Home Insulation

Home insulation is such as important aspect of your house now. It is not optional anymore and it can be considered a necessity due to the escalating cost of non-renewable energy such as petroleum. If your house is more than 15 years old or if you are renovating your house, you might want to consider home insulation as part of the work.

If you are spending too much on your monthly energy bills, it might well be due to your home insulation methods are not up to the task. According to the Department of Energy, 44% of the energy used in the average American home goes toward heating and cooling. The culprit may well be at your house attic, walls or floors which are under-insulated. If you are not doing enough insulation at these parts of your house, a large part of your costly, conditioned air may be making a beeline for the great outdoors.

Before going further, the following are a couple of quick guides on home insulation methods, types of home insulation, spray foam insulation as well as attic insulation.

There are a few areas of your house that should be insulated in particular. For example, your house attics and walls are important areas that should be insulated. The attics and walls insulation gives the best deal on your return on investment (ROI) value. Other areas of your house that should be insulated as well include your house ceilings with unheated spaces, basement walls, floors above vented crawl spaces, cathedral ceilings, floors over unheated garages or porches, knee walls, and in between interior walls (especially bathrooms), ceilings or floors for extra sound control.

Insulation is important to your house. Take for example, fiber glass insulation keeps your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter because insulation resists the flow of heat. Heat is a form of energy that flows out of the home in the winter and into the home in the summer. By reducing heat flow, a properly insulated home uses less energy for heating and cooling which save you on your electricity bill.

Insulation effectiveness is measured by R-value. R stands for resistance to heat flow. The higher the R-value is for a material, the greater the insulating power for that material.

In addition, manufacturers of insulation products print R-values of their products either on the bags or on the labels. In most cases, R-values are also printed on the facings of fiberglass batts and rolls.

A well-insulated home increases the overall comfort of the home and adds to its resale value. It pays to insulate your home no matter what your house value is.