Recently, we here at Ridgeline Construction have been focused on protecting your home, whether from hurricanes or the current crisis. Today, we’re going to shift gears a little and focus on how you can also protect your wallet.
Spring is in the full bloom. As the weather grows milder, it’s a perfect time to move forward with projects that will maintain your home. More specifically, spring provides a great opportunity to prepare for the colder months. Now is the time to make sure you have installed or updated your home’s insulation to prevent heat leakage into your attic.
What is insulation?
You might think of home insulation as the fluff that’s within your walls. It might seem strange, but that fluff is very important to the maintenance of your home.
Insulation keeps heat trapped within your home. It acts as a buffer between the air inside your home and the air outside. Insulation lowers your heating bill in the winter by ensuring that heat stays in your home rather than leaking outside. If heat leaked out too fast, your heater would have to work overtime just to keep up.
There are three types of insulation: foam, fiberglass, and cellulose. They’re used for different parts of the house, as each type is suited to block heat in certain areas and within certain materials.
Insulation’s efficacy, or its ability to perform its job in trapping heat, is measured by its R-Value, also known as thermal resistance. This formula determines just how much heat your insulation is trapping. The R-Value depends on the type of insulation mentioned above, and how much is being used. However, it’s important to remember that, past a certain amount of insulation used, R-Values stop increasing as much due to compression.
Insulation for your attic
It might sound counterintuitive to make sure that your attic is well insulated. While that’s somewhat true, insulation in the attic is geared more towards making sure heat doesn’t escape through the attic.
The attic is perhaps the leakiest area of the house. Furthermore, heat rises, which means as you heat your home, warm air wants to push up through the attic. Insulation in the attic ensures that, while the attic itself might keep cool, the air in your house that you want to stay warm doesn’t leak.
Insulation keeps you cool too
Though it may sound backward, insulating the attic helps your house stay cool in the hotter months.
Your roof takes the brunt of the heat pouring down from the sun in the hotter months. Insulation can act as an absorption tool, capturing the heat that pounds on your roof.
Just remember, while insulation is necessary, it doesn’t solve all of your heating and cooling problems. It’s also crucial to make sure that the gaps and holes in your house are taken care of so that insulation can do its job, especially in your attic.
Need to schedule a consultation for roof repair or installation? Contact our team today!
Ridgeline Construction Roofing & Exteriors is one of the best home improvement specialists in the area. We won’t sacrifice quantity for quality, and we’ll always strive to provide you with the highest level of service. Schedule a free estimate and consultation today by calling us at (256) 325-1345 or by filling out our online form.
