Most likely, you don’t think about the insulation in your attic. After all, it’s dusty, itchy, and it’s been there since your house was built. Maybe, you don’t even have insulation in your attic.
Did you know that a poorly insulated attic can cost you more in energy bills? This is because attics have large surfaces where energy can escape. This makes your home feel drafty, and it can affect every room in your house.
Insulating an attic will make your home feel more comfortable. You’ll feel warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Plus, by replacing old insulation or installing new insulation in an unfinished attic you’ll save money on cooling and heating bills in the long run.
This guide to the benefits of attic insulation will explain 15 reasons you should insulate your attic for a more energy-efficient house.
15 Benefits of Insulating an Attic
Your home can benefit from attic insulation whatever the season. These 15 attic insulation benefits show you how insulating your attic can make a big difference in the comfort of your home.
1. Saves on Your Energy Bill
Insulating your attic lowers the cost of cooling and heating your house. This is because heat travels. It moves out of your home in the winter and flows into your home in the summer. Proper attic insulation reduces this airflow so you don’t use as much energy to heat and cool your home.
2. Controls Air Leakage
Insulating your attic limits air leakage into your house. It’s estimated that 40 percent of home heating cost is from air leaking through your ceilings, floors and walls. So, if you limit the air leaks in your house, you can reduce your utility costs.
3. Keeps Your Room Temperature Stable
If your home isn’t insulated or is under-insulated, it can cause fluctuations in the temperature of your rooms. Your upstairs rooms could be hotter than downstairs, or you might notice different temperatures in all your rooms. Therefore insulating an attic is so important for keeping your home comfortable.
4. Gives You Better Air Quality
Pollutants enter from outside your home, such as dirt, radon, smoke and mold. Installing insulation in your attic, it helps prevent the health effects of air pollutants. Some symptoms of air pollutants include headaches, respiratory problems and fatigue.
5. Increases Your Home’s Value
Upgrading or installing attic, high R-value insulation adds value to your home. Even though it’s not visible to home buyers, new attic insulation is a strong selling point. It reduces energy costs, protects the roof and keeps your home comfortable and inviting.
6. Makes Your Attic Useful Space
Do you use your attic only for storage because it’s too hot or too cold for anything else? Adding spray foam insulation to your attic roof deck eliminates the extreme temperatures in attic space.
Once you do this, you can make an extra bedroom, playroom or family room in the attic. This once uncomfortable storage space can become an enjoyable room, which also adds value to your home.
7. Helps Prevent Winter Ice Dams
Proper attic insulation can reduce or eliminate ice dams from forming on your roof in the winter. Ice dams and icicles can cause thousands of dollars of damage to the interior and exterior of your home.
8. Deters Pests
Pest resistant insulation can keep unwanted pests from entering or building nests in your attic. The last thing you want is a nest of mice, squirrels or birds living in your attic.
If your insulation is old, it could already have pests nesting in it. This can be a health hazard due to animal droppings, dead animals and waste products. Consider replacing your old insulation to keep your home safe from toxic wastes.
9. Prevents Structural Damage from Moisture
Insulation helps prevent water vapor from reaching your home’s structure. Open cell spray foam insulation is a vapor retardant and closed cell spray foam is a vapor barrier. Water vapor can seep into your roof, walls and ceiling causing wood rot, eroding cement, and growing mold and mildew.
10. Makes Your HVAC System More Efficient
Poor insulation causes your HVAC system to work harder to keep your home warm or cool. By installing attic insulation, you decrease the wear and tear on your temperature control system. Adding spray foam insulation to the roof deck allows the attic to become a semi-conditioned space and brings your HVAC system out of the hostile environment of a poorly insulated attic.
11. Protects the Environment
Insulation provides an eco-friendly way to keep your home warm or cool. Insulating your attic reduces energy use so it reduces your carbon footprint. The less energy you use, the less carbon dioxide pollutes the atmosphere.
In fact, many types of insulation contain recycled materials, such as cellulose insulation, mineral wool and fiberglass insulation.
12. Reduces Condensation
Most people don’t notice condensation in the attic until structural damage has already happened. Condensation in your attic happens when moisture from your heated home carries into your attic.
This moisture also causes mold growth in your attic. Insulation prevents condensation from entering your attic space.
13. Prevents Frozen Pipes
Proper insulation keeps your home warmer in the winter so it’s less likely your pipes will freeze and burst. If your pipes freeze, it can cause significant water and plumbing damage in your home.
14. Reduces Noise
Attic insulation helps reduce outside noise from entering your home. It really helps during stormy weather when the rain is pouring down and crashes of thunder send your dog racing under the bed. Adding insulation does a lot to keep your home quiet and peaceful. Insulation is rated with SPF which measures the sound transmission. Open cell spray foam insulation has the highest SPF which means it is great for sound attenuation.
15. Prolongs the Life of Your Roof
Replacing your roof is a huge investment. The longer you can keep your roof in good shape, the better. Because attic insulation prevents condensation from forming drops of water on the underside of your roof, it won’t develop wood-rot.
Insulation also keeps the summer heat from rising to your roof. This can degrade your roofing material.
Make Your Home Energy-Efficient and Comfortable
Now that you know the 15 benefits of insulating an attic, think about how new insulation can help you save on heating costs while keeping your home safe and comfortable.
Contact us to help you conserve energy and protect your home by installing high R-value insulation. We also ensure that your attic is properly ventilated and adequately insulated.
