Here’s a stat for you: the U.S. Department of Energy declared that HVAC accounts for 50-70% of an average home’s energy usage. So, if you’ve got poor insulation, that’s an energy bill up in flames because, well, this is Texas, and it gets hot. Around here, if we want to keep our AC bills semi-manageable, you’ve got to have a home that’s insulated with the best possible materials.
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Benefits of quality insulation explained
We spend money on roofing and siding, but many homeowners don’t pay the same kind of attention to their insulation. This is a big mistake. When the weather changes, your insulation directly reflects heat entering the home or escaping during the winter.
Heat flows from warmer areas to cooler areas, and insulation helps resist this airflow through walls, ceilings, and roofs – all acting as a protective barrier between you and the outside conditions.
What factors matter when it comes to insulation?
The first things to think about are climate and location. This is Central Texas. Insulation contractors know best! Winter can get a little wonky, but mainly, we’re used to roasting eight months out of the year. High-quality insulation should be installed throughout the home to maximize energy efficiency. In the insulation business, we call this the “R-value,” – which lets you know the thermal resistance an insulator has. The higher the R-value, the better it protects the home.
What’s the best insulation type?
We suggest blown-in, energy-efficient insulation at the base level, which is smaller and more flexible than rolled batting. This type of insulation gets into smaller spaces, fills cracks, and can hit the odd openings effectively. This method is also suitable for using beams, pipes, and other weird shapes found in the attic.
After that, we’re big advocates of radiant barrier insulation, which acts as a protective guard on top of the regular insulation. Regular insulation soaks in the heat outside, while radiant barrier reflects it outright. Think of radiant barrier as the extra level of security. It keeps your home cool as possible in the middle of August – so much so that by adding it to the house, homeowners have seen up to a 50% drop in their energy bills.
Where do we need to insulate?
The most important parts of the house to insulate are the attic and inside the walls. Insulating inside the walls is typically a part of home remodeling or done at the time of construction, whereas insulating the attic can be done anytime. The attic is crucial because hot air rises, so come wintertime, when heat is pumping through the house, much of that air escapes through the roof via the attic. In the summer, heat seeps into your home through, you guessed it, the roof and attic. Heating and cooling are two significant elements of the process, but another is moving against moisture penetration, which helps deter mold, rot, and odor.
How do the HeatBusters know what’s best for my home?
We always start every job by consulting with the home or business owner and providing a free estimate. We go over the space and determine what’s the best method. Insulation can be installed in these ways:
Attic Insulation
We’ll evaluate the existing materials, consider re-insulation, and maybe removal. We focus on blown-in insulation as a base level but Radiant Barrier as a secondary measure.
Existing Wall Insulation
Many older (and even newer) homes have terrible wall insulation, and many homes built before 1965 aren’t even insulated! It’s imperative to check the quality of insulation due to contractors being in a rush or working on the cheap. HeatBusters knows good work when we see it and will be honest and show you what we see. We leverage our constantly evolving toolkit to deliver the best methods to our customers for their homes.
We use only energy efficient insulation materials to pressure fill exterior walls. We fill for sound and thermal solutions when it comes to interior walls. HeatBusters knows home insulation best!