Custom Insulation Blog

There are many ways to increase your home’s efficiency for the upcoming winter. Properly insulated homes have significantly lower heating and cooling bills. However, often homeowners do not think of insulation when looking for ways to lower their heating costs.

Your attic may be insulated, but check out your attic access way. In the form of a hatch, pull-down stairs, or a knee-wall door, attic accesses often go uninsulated. This gap in the attic insulation increases heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer.

Also, attic accesses often aren't sealed properly. A 1/4-inch gap around the perimeter of an attic access can leak the same amount of air supplied by a typical bedroom heating duct.

Knee walls are often found in houses with finished attics, they are vertical walls with attic space directly behind them. These walls are usually leaky and often uninsulated. A knee wall and the attic floor in the attic space behind it should be properly insulated and air sealed.

Properly insulating air ducts located in unconditioned spaces such as attics, crawl spaces, garages, or unfinished basements can also help improve your home's energy efficiency.

Air ducts supply conditioned air from your space heating and cooling equipment to your living spaces. They also return an equal volume of air back to the equipment to be conditioned again. Ducts are typically made out of thin metal materials that easily conduct heat. Therefore, uninsulated or poorly insulated ducts in unconditioned spaces can lose 10%–30% of the energy used to heat and cool your home.

If you properly insulate your crawl space—in addition to air sealing and controlling moisture, you will save on energy costs and increase your home's comfort.

Contact Custom Insulation for more information on making your home more energy efficient.

As the days get warmer you might start dreaming of air conditioning. But, there are some other ways to keep your house more comfortable during hot summer days that are easier on your wallet and the environment.

Attics can reach temperatures over 140 degrees F on hot summer days. If there isn’t much insulation between the ceiling and attic a lot of this heat is going to be transferred into the house.  Increasing attic insulation can make a big difference in the comfort level of a home and will also cut your heating costs in the winter. By adding R40 insulation to a poorly insulated attic the temperature inside the house will drop by 6-8 º F on hot days.

Proper attic ventilation is also important in keeping your house cool and extending the life of your roof. Without it, as the sun goes down your attic won’t cool off as much and will continue to heat your house throughout the night.

The use of spray foam insulation has been rapidly growing as Architects, Builders and Homeowners become aware of the long term energy savings and comfort benefits associated with using spray foam. However, if you have a walk up attic, blanket insulation would be fine to use.