Most people don’t think of it, but it’s really a good idea to keep an eye on your home insulation. If you find that it is damaged or it is simply not doing its job, you may have to replace it.
This can be very expensive; however, as long as you have faulty insulation, you are wasting money on heating and cooling you home. Here’s what to look for when you check your insulation:
An empty spot is called a void. You will usually find these near light fixtures after electrical work has been done. The workers will usually push the insulation out of the way. You can fix this easily by putting in more insulation or filling it in with a spray-in foam insulation.
Check your basement ceiling. If it’s not insulated, you can lose a lot of heating and cooling into your basement. It’s pretty easy to insulate your basement ceiling, and there are lots of companies that can do it for you if you don’t feel up to doing it yourself.
Your attic is another area that can waste a lot of energy if you don’t insulate it. Again, you might want to do it yourself, since it is pretty simple, or you could hire a company to do it for you.
When you are checking your attic, be sure to check the ventilation system. If the ventilation system is clogged up, your attic will retain a lot of heat in the summertime, and that will heat up your house.
Be sure to keep these vents clean so your attic can air. If you don’t have any vents, look into installing them. Whether you do it yourself or hire a company to do it for you, your basement and attic can be insulated with roll insulation or with spray powdered insulation. If you decide to do it yourself, be sure to wear a safety mask to keep particles out of your lungs.
Be sure to check all your hot water pipes. There are many affordable ways to insulate your hot water pipes. One of the easiest and best ways is to get a length of foam cylinder. They usually come in four-foot lengths. Just cut it to the length you need and split it down the side. Then you can just fit it over the pipe and secure it in place with duct tape.
You can also insulate your hot water pipes with fiberglass insulation tape, but this is kind of tedious because you have to unroll it all the way down the length of the pipe. If the pipe is under your house or in a tight spot, this can be really hard.
Check your walls! If you have already checked your basement and your attic and found that the insulation isn’t good, it’s a pretty good bet you have the same stuff in your walls. Sometimes the best thing to do is to have new siding put on the outside of your house.
Of course, you can also do this yourself if you are handy. Siding is a good choice because it insulates nicely, looks really good, and increases your property value.
Be sure your windows are energy efficient. A single pane window will not insulate your home. If you can change out your old windows and replace them with new, double-paned windows, it will really make a difference.
However, if you can’t afford that, you can use good, heavy insulating curtains inside your home to help seal out the heat and cold. You will be surprised how effective this is and how affordable.
If you can’t afford to add insulating curtains to your whole house all at once, this is a project you can easily do room by room. Start with areas where people spend the most time, such as the family room and living room, and then move on to bedrooms, dens, and so on. Of course, you could also use this plan to change out your windows one-by-one.
For heating and air-conditioning equipment, as well as ventilation equipment, be sure you always have clean filters installed. This will cut down on your heating and cooling costs since all of this type of equipment must work harder to pull air through a dirty filter.
Even though filters can be a little pricey, it will pay off in heating and cooling costs to keep clean filters in all your equipment. Washable filters should be cleaned weekly. Filters that can only be replaced should be replaced monthly.