How Proper Attic Insulation Can Help Save You Energy this Season

January 7, 2016

If you want to make sure your home is using energy efficiently, it's imperative that it has proper attic insulation. Luckily, insulating the attic is relatively easy to do, compared to other parts of the house, and will pay the biggest dividends with energy efficiency. Find out more about properly insulating the attic in your Des Moines area home. An attic that's poorly insulated will make your home's living spaces more difficult to keep comfortable in both winter and summer.

During the heating season, the warmth in the lower floors will transfer into a poorly insulated attic or one that's not properly sealed against air movement. In the summer, heat builds up in the attic with the sun shining on the roof all day, and that heat will transfer down into living spaces unless there's plenty of insulation. In both cases, your HVAC system will have to work harder and use more energy to keep your home comfortable. Options for attic insulation include the most commonly used materials: fiberglass batts or blankets (which are placed between floor joists and beams). This method doesn't do much to block the movement of air, so air leaks should be sealed as well. Generally, you'll want the insulation to rise to the top of the floor joists. Another option is loose-fill insulation, which can be sprayed into areas to provide complete coverage.

An insulation contractor may have to do this job, since it requires a special blower. Loose-fill can be either fiberglass, cellulose, or rock-wool fibers or pellets. Other options include rigid foam insulating boards (which don't do a great job of blocking air movement) and spray-foam insulation. The latter can be expensive, but it is effective at blocking both heat movement and air movement. Often, it's sprayed on the underside of the roof in order to minimize the outside temperature's effect inside the attic. Whichever attic insulation is chosen, it should have the proper R-value (heat resistance) for our Iowa climate.

For more information about proper attic insulation in your Des Moines area home, please contact us at Lozier Heating & Cooling.Our goal is to help educate our customers in the greater Des Moines, Iowa area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  Credit/Copyright Attribution: "irin k/Shutterstock"