Where should you insulate to get the most benefit for the expense? Heat is always in motion from a warmer zone to a cooler zone. In winter, that means heat is leaking out of your home, causing your furnace to run longer to make up for the loss and utility bills to rise accordingly. During summer, outdoor heat wants to infiltrate the house and competes with your A/C unit, making cooling costs more expensive. Insulating effectively is one of the primary defenses against unwanted heat loss or heat gain. The parts of the home to insulate take these basic facts into consideration.
- Heat rises to the ceiling. Because a large volume of indoor heat is lost through the ceiling, the attic floor above is considered the most important area in the house to insulate for winter comfort and efficiency. During summer, attic insulation also protects against excessive heat gain radiating down through the ceiling into rooms below. Fiberglass batts that roll out between the ceiling joists in the attic, or mounds of cellulose loose-fill blown into the attic under air pressure, are the two most common insulating materials. Here in our climate zone, the Department of Energy recommends a minimum depth of at least one foot of fiberglass batts or 10 inches of cellulose loose fill in the attic. More is better.
- Uninsulated floors pull heat out of the house. In winter, a frigid crawlspace beneath the house keeps floors perpetually cold and acts as a heat sink, drawing heat energy out of the house and making the furnace run extended cycles to compensate. Insulating the crawl space with fiberglass can be done by installing batts beneath the sub-floor of the house between the floor joists. Spray foam insulation can also be applied to the underside of the floor.
At Sobieski Services, Inc., our goal is to help our customers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey learn more about energy and home comfort issues — especially HVAC and plumbing issues — so that they can save money and live in healthier, more comfortable homes.
