It’s that time of the month again. You open your mailbox, and the dreaded electricity bill is staring back at you.
You take it inside, shred it open, and groan at the number on the piece of paper. It feels like you’ve been trying to conserve energy by shutting lights off and turning up the air conditioning at night… so why is the bill still so big?
The answer is in your attic. All that heat and cool air that you pay to pump through your house is leaking out above your head.
Cooling and heating purposes make up 48% of energy used in a typical U.S. home. It’s the majority of your electric bill, which is why insulating your attic is so essential.
Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about home insulation to cut your energy bill way down.
Keep Your Heat and Cool Air
You’re probably familiar with the concept that heat rises. Well, in the winter, that means all your heat is rising up toward the attic. Don’t think that your ceilings will stop it, because they won’t.
Heat rises because it’s denser than the cold air that surrounds it. Once that surrounding cold air is also heated, the heat will fall again. But if the heat’s already escaped through your un-insulated attic, you’ve lost it forever.
Air conditioning works a little differently. It essentially runs the hot air in your house through a chemical called refrigerant. The refrigerant cools it and your HVAC system pushes it back into your house.
It does this until all the space in your house is filled with cold air. That means that when your attic isn’t insulated, you’re just creating more work for your air conditioning system.
Choose the Right Option for Your Home
All the different types of attic insulation can be difficult to wrap your head around. Some insulation is easy to DIY, and some you’ll need to call the pros for. Which is right for you?
The easiest DIY insulation is batts and blankets. These are less expensive, easily rollable pieces of insulation that you can probably install yourself. The problem, though, is that they’re not nearly as insulating as the professional stuff.
Blown-in loose fill attic insulation is done by the pros, and it’s way more effective than blankets. It’s composed of a ton of little pieces of insulation, which fill nooks and crannies in your attic to maximize insulation coverage.
Prevent Damage Over Time
Home insulation at all levels is essential for increasing the longevity of your home. We all know how expensive a new roof can be, and insulating your attic can help put off those costs.
When the attic isn’t insulated, heat will rise and melt snow on the roof. This can lead to ice dams, one of the worst things a roof can ask for. Ice dams can cause roof leaks, which means expensive repairs for you.
Insulating Your Attic is Key
If your attic isn’t already insulated, it’s time to check it out and see what you can do to improve it! Insulating your attic can save you as much as $600 per year— that’s not chump change.
Get in touch to talk about how we can help lower your electricity bill through professional attic insulation!