Do you find you’re still sweating even though your air conditioner is turned on high? Is your basement freezing but your bedroom is unbearably hot? Your insulation, or lack thereof, could be to blame. Having proper insulation in your home will not only help regulate the temperature throughout, but it will also help keep you cool in the summer when it really counts. Read on to learn how insulation works and why investing in proper insulation will save you money in the long run.
What is Insulation?
Most simply put, insulation is any material that is used to fill the little gaps and crevices of your home where air can escape. Insulation acts as a barrier between the cool air inside your home and the hot air outside or vice versa. While there are many types of insulation, they all serve the same purpose: to create a barrier between your home and outside elements.
How Does Insulation Work?
Insulation is the key factor in keeping your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It does this by slowing the process of heat transfer within your home. Heat naturally flows from warmer areas to cooler areas. This means that during the summer, hot air outside will try to make its way indoors to your freshly chilled home. Insulation prevents the cool air from escaping outside and keeps it inside your home.
Insulation does this by keeping tiny pockets of air trapped inside the material, which helps to minimize the amount of heat that passes between the inside and outside your home. Because air is not flowing freely between the inside and outside of your home, your home will be able to maintain a set temperature.
Why Is It So Hot Inside My House?
The majority of homes, and especially older homes, do not have enough proper insulation in them. Typically, homes will have the bare minimum required by building codes. While this is enough to keep your home functioning, low amounts of insulation can result in drafty areas, energy loss, increased bills and an uncomfortable feeling home overall.
The main reason it feels so hot inside your home is due to an invisible process called air exchange. During the summer months, our homes lose a significant amount of air to the outside. As the cool air leaves your home, it is replaced by an equal amount of hot air. To make matters worse, if your home does not have proper insulation, it will be unable to slow down the heat from outside entering your home through your walls, floors and ceilings. This will cause a further build-up of humid and uncomfortable air inside your home.
How Insulation Saves You Money
Proper insulation is the key to a cool and comfortable home. As cool air stays inside and warm air is kept outside, you won’t have to turn your AC to full blast every day. This is because a well-insulated home retains the cool air coming out of your air conditioner for longer. It also means that your air conditioner won’t have to work as hard to push cold air out. This not only saves you money on maintenance but also on your energy bill overall. Without proper insulation, you’re losing money as fast as you’re losing cool air.
For example, many homes do not have proper insulation in their attics. This can result in a loss of 30% of all cool air that is created by your air conditioner. That’s cool air you’re paying for that is literally flying out of your home. By simply having the insulation in your attic addressed, you could be saving money and staying cool in no time.
No matter what kind of insulation is used in your home, your priority should be having the right amount. Without proper insulation, you are losing money as fast as you are losing cool air. Stop sweating away the summer and instead invest in updating your insulation. Have a pro come and assess your home’s insulation to see what improvements can be made. Often by adding a little insulation in key places, you will see a dramatic difference in both your costs and comfort.
