Check These Areas For Home Insulation

Even the best heating or cooling system will not be able to keep your living spaces at the temperature you prefer if your home is not properly insulated. At the same time, inadequate insulation can waste significant amounts of energy, driving your heating and cooling bills up with no benefit in return. Here is a short list of places where you should concentrate your efforts when installing or upgrading home insulation.

• Walls: External walls that make contact with the outdoor environment are prime candidates for extra insulation. If they are not insulated thoroughly, heat can escape through the walls in the winter. Heat can also radiate through the walls into your home during the summer. Common types of insulating material used in walls are loose-fill insulation made of cellulose pellets or fiberglass blanket insulation installed between wall beams and joists.
• Attic: Temperatures in uninsulated attics can reach extreme levels during the summer — often 100 degrees and higher. Attic heat will radiate downward into your living areas, increasing temperatures inside your home. This degrades comfort and causes your cooling system to work harder to compensate. Therefore, you waste money and energy while putting unnecessary stress on your HVAC equipment. Make sure attic walls, ceilings, and floors are insulated with loose-fill, blanket, or another appropriate style of insulation.
• Basement, foundation, and crawl space: Foundations and crawl spaces should be insulated to prevent energy loss in these areas and to help improve the comfort level in rooms below ground level. Blanket or loose-fill insulation, or fiberboard can be used effectively in these areas.
• Ductwork: Make sure the ductwork of your HVAC system is thoroughly insulated to prevent loss of energy through the ductwork material. Any ductwork leaks should also be sealed to stop air and energy loss.

Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning has more than 33 years of experience meeting the needs of HVAC customers in Lorain, Erie, and Cuyahoga Counties. Contact us today for more information on home insulation and for expert help choosing and installing the insulation that will help you save energy and be more comfortable all year long.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Lorain, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

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