Insulation affects your energy bills and comfort levels year-round. Alex Schuts from Insta-Insulation has provided the basics every homeowner should know when it comes to insulating their home.
4 Signs your house lacks insulation:
- You aren’t comfortable in your home – it’s either too hot or cold.
- Your energy bills are high.
- Moisture and mold – moisture in the walls feeds on the drywall and wood, causing mold.
- The snow on the roof of your house melts away quickly.
The most important areas to insulate:
1) The basement
Why? Your appliances, like your furnace and water heater generate heat to the rest of your home. The goal here is to keep that heat captured so it can work its way upwards, making your house more comfortable.
- Many basements are insulated with blanket insulation which was minimum code 25 years ago. New code requires basements to be fully insulated, reducing the amount of energy needed to heat your home.
- Energy efficiency increases 25 per cent by putting in a better, properly insulated system.
- Cost: A 1200 sq ft basement typically costs $4000-4500 to insulate with spray foam insulation.
2) The attic
Why? Most homes do not have enough attic insulation. There are a couple methods for increasing your attic’s insulation:
- Blowing cellulose or fibreglass over your existing insulation.
- Removing all the existing insulation and air sealing the entire attic, preventing all moisture from entering. A cellulose or fibreglass layer is then blown over top of that.
- In both cases it’s very important to maintain ventilation. Your soffits must be open so fresh air is introduced into your attic and then exhausted out through your roof vents.
Cost: The average insulation upgrade for an attic (not including spray foam) costs between 1.25-1.50 a square ft. depending on the degree of difficulty. This includes adding moore vents and the actual upgrade of insulation with cellulose or fibre glass.
- An attic insulation upgrade typically yields a 20-25 per cent reduction in energy bills. This could be increased by doing a lot of air sealing in your attic as well.
