Will you be prepared this winter for the high heating costs? Even with mild winters in recent years, we’ve been faced with exorbitant heating bills. Although we’ve been lucky to avoid extreme temperature circumstances, significantly higher energy bills are now a year-round occurrence.
The Remedy for High Energy Bills
There are many things you can do to offset high heating bills this winter (and energy bills year-round). You can adjust your thermostat and manage living in less comfortable conditions, or you can try weatherization techniques. Air sealing, applying weather stripping and installing thermal windows and doors in your home are a great start for saving energy. However, to dramatically reduce your energy consumption and costs, there’s no better solution than insulating.
The Best Spot in Your Home for Energy-Saving
Your home may already have some insulation, but it’s a good idea to have it assessed for effectiveness. How is your attic insulated (if at all)? That’s the first place you want to maximize insulation as it’s the lid of the home. (Remember how your parents always told you to wear a hat in the winter because it keeps you warmer?)
If you have insulation in your attic but it’s old, it may have lost its effectiveness as a result of absorbing moisture over time and getting moldy, or by attracting insects or rodents. Certain types of traditional insulation products do this, in which case you want to replace the insulation with a more effective and state-of-the-art product.
You can install insulation on your attic floor, or if your HVAC system is housed in the attic, you would want to insulate the attic roofline to put the system in conditioned space that allows it to run more efficiently. Sealing the lid of the home like this stops the stack effect, which is when warm air rises up and out of the attic.
Once you address the attic, you want to look at the basement to ensure no air is getting in there and sending moist, cold drafts up into the living spaces. Then you want to address the walls. But even addressing the attic alone can make a huge difference in your energy bills, even as much as a 50% reduction!
Now is the Time to Insulate!
If you’re thinking of assessing and addressing your insulation needs for this winter, now is the time to do that, as we’re already booking installations into October and beyond. But we can come out to your home right now to take a look and talk to you about your goals, then get back to you with our assessment of what will work most successfully and cost-effectively for reducing the energy use in your home. The investment in insulation may be 4 or 5 figures, but you’ll get a return on that investment in less than 5 years due to energy savings that will last the life of the home, not to mention greater comfort, zero drafts and ice dams, and a longer lifespan for your HVAC.
Cool Fact:
Having your HVAC in non-conditioned space (like your attic) is like having it outside, but installing a hot roof insulation system in your attic places it in conditioned space, allowing it to work less and keep your home warmer or cooler depending on the season.
Hot Tip:
Formaldehyde is a chemical that is often found in homes, particularly in certain types of insulation, and it poses a serious health risk. If you have an older home or old insulation, have it checked for the presence of this chemical.
