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If you’ve ever taken a peek into your attic, you might have noticed that the builder added some insulation to help shield your home from the hot/cold attic temperatures. Unfortunately, if your home is older than 10 years, it is likely that you don’t have enough insulation to create an effective barrier. Current building code requires R-49 (18.5” of Insulation). Think about your insulation like your home’s blanket; the thicker the blanket the warmer it keeps you at night. Not having enough insulation in your attic can be a great contributor to being uncomfortably hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.
Sometimes the insulation throughout the attic is lower because it has not been upgraded since it was originally installed, but othertimes the insulation is lower because it has been trampled or moved by previous homeowners or maintenance technicians, or by wind blowing through the eaves. Installing new insulation to bring the house up to code can significantly reduce the amount of heat that is lost into the attic in the winter and heat that is pulled down from the attic in the summer.
Insulating and sealing your home’s attic is typically the best upgrade you can do to improve the comfort of your home and reduce your utility bills. Poorly insulated attics typically account for 20% of all the heat loss in your house in the winter time or heat gain in the summer time. The good news is, most attics are accessible and can be insulated properly for an affordable cost.
Some of the common signs that your home may need an attic upgrade are:
Before doing any attic upgrade, it is important to determine all of the paths where heat is escaping from the house and into the attic. While adding extra insulation to get to the current code goes a long way keeping the heat in your house in the winter, it is just as important to seal all of the pathways where air can leak into the attic.It may look like the attic isn’t well connected to your home, but underneath the attic insulation there are many holes related to plumbing, electrical and mechanical equipment, which allow air exchange between the attic and your home. There are also less noticeable penetrations such as the tops of wall cavities and chases which add up to create a sizable connection between the attic and your home. Nearly all attic insulations (fiberglass loosefill, fiberglass batts, cellulose, or rockwool) do not stop air movement, so these air leaks must be sealed in addition to adding insulation to the attic. Our attic upgrade process takes into account both key improvement areas – attic air leakage AND low attic insulation and specifically includes:
By choosing Atlas Home Energy for your home upgrades, we promise to: