Your home has high energy bills. Whenever winter or summer rolls around, you are shocked by how much you have to pay to heat or cool your home. On top of the price of comfort, your home isn't particularly comfortable. You wear layers inside during winter and feel like you're melting in the summer. Is attic insulation the solution to your home discomfort and high energy costs?
South Central Services has insulated hundreds of new and existing homes in and around Gettysburg, PA, and Martinsburg, WV. Our team works hard to make homes and buildings more energy-efficient. The reality is that attic insulation can have a humongous impact on your comfort and energy bills.
By the end of this article, you will understand:
- Why attic insulation plays such a significant role in energy efficiency
- How to properly insulate your attic to get energy efficiency benefits
- Which insulations will make the biggest difference in your home
Attic Insulation Can Make A Significant Difference In Your Home.
We often forget about our attics. Some are storage spaces for Christmas decorations and other odds and ends. Sometimes, we avoid our attics because we have a sinking suspicion that rodents may be making a home upstairs. Unless your attic is a living space or is frequently accessed, you probably don't consider the role it plays in your home.
Your attic is part of your thermal envelope, which separates inside and outside of the house. As the name implies, the thermal envelope needs high-performing insulation to regulate the temperature. Attics are an above-grade portion of the thermal envelope, meaning the sun's heat can magnify the temperatures upstairs.
In our experience, homeowners see a drop in their home heating and cooling costs by 30% to 70% after upgrading their attic insulation. The worse the insulation situation upstairs is currently, the greater the improvement you will see.
Adding an airtight seal in your attic will help to keep conditioned air where it belongs inside. Heat won't press into your living space in the summer and won't escape through the roof in the winter. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, "homeowners can save an average of 15% on heating and cooling costs…by air sealing their homes and adding insulation in attics, floors over crawl spaces, and accessible basement rim joists."
You Should Not Add New Insulation Onto Existing Insulation.
Unfortunately, making your home more comfortable and cutting your energy costs isn't as simple as adding more insulation. Many homeowners think they can put brand-new insulation on top of whatever was upstairs already.
The only situation in which we ever recommend adding new insulation on top of existing is in the case of blown-in. If your blown-in attic insulation is clean and dry, and the attic already has an air-seal, you could top off that insulation with more blown-in. In any other situation, we cannot recommend adding new insulation onto existing insulation.
Existing Insulation Should Be Removed Before Adding New.
"Adding insulation" comes down to removing what is already there and then adding new. You will need a clean slate to install new insulation. It is also important to remove existing insulation if there are any mold, mildew, or rodent issues upstairs.
Insulation Quality Will Affect The Change In Your Energy Bills.
Adding a budget-friendly insulation product upstairs will help your energy costs go down. A more premium insulation will have a more drastic impact on your energy bills. However, premium insulation has a higher price tag.
Depending on the size of your attic, it may be worthwhile to splurge on a more expensive insulation product. The cost difference may be a few thousand dollars. However, over the lifetime of the insulation, the premium product will make back the increase and more.
Let's examine a few levels of quality for your attic insulation upgrade.
Fiberglass Batt Is An Okay Option For Attics.
Fiberglass batt is a popular insulation choice due to its low cost. Batt insulation comes in a variety of sizes and R-values. In an attic application, fiberglass batt can be installed in the floor.
Generally, we do not recommend fiberglass batt for attics. Fiberglass offers respectable R-values but cannot stop heat transfer via the air. If you want batt insulation for your attic floor, we recommend pairing it with an airtight seal. Any cracks, crevices, or intrusions in your attic floor can be sealed up. Air-sealing helps to maximize the performance of the batt.
If you're currently dealing with those high energy bills and home discomfort, fiberglass paired with an air-seal will make some difference for you.
Blown-In Is A Better Option For Your Attic.
If you're on a budget, our recommendation for your attic would be a blown-in product. Blown-in fiberglass and cellulose are still affordable options. However, their composition allows them to better insulate nooks and crannies upstairs. Where batt insulation must be trimmed exactly to size, blown-in can be blown into any cavity.
Just like with batt insulation, we recommend pairing it with an airtight seal. Heat can easily transfer through the air that leaks in between blown-in particles. Installing an air-seal in the floor will maximize the blown-in performance.
Blown-in is also a more ideal budget option due to its lifecycle. When batt insulation wears out over a 20- to 30-year period, it must be replaced. But blown-in insulation can be topped off after it has settled. While topping off the insulation will incur some cost, it is less of a hassle and expense than replacing everything again.
Spray Foam Insulation In The Attic Will Offer The Best Results.
If you have more budget to work with, we recommend open cell or closed cell spray foam. Spray foam insulation is more expensive, but it also offers many benefits that budget-friendly insulations do not.
For one, spray foam insulation has a built-in airtight seal. Instead of using a separate product, spray foam insulation insulates and air-seals simultaneously. Spray foam has a high R-value, but it also prevents heat from escaping through the air.
While blown-in insulation can conform to strange shapes and nooks in the floor, spray foam insulation can adhere to any shape or size. Spray foam can also be sprayed overhead to encapsulate your attic.
Attic encapsulation is especially effective for attics with HVAC ductwork running upstairs. By insulating the underside of the roof and the gables, your attic becomes part of the conditioned space. This encapsulation prevents your ductwork from taking on additional heat load upstairs. Without encapsulation, attic temperatures can easily reach 170 degrees Fahrenheit in our climate zone in the summer.
Spray foam insulation is also a permanent solution. Spray foam is sprayed, adheres in place, and won't budge. It takes significantly more effort to disturb spray foam than blown-in or batt. This investment may cost a few thousand more upfront, but it will also be the last time you'll need to pay for attic insulation.
After insulating your attic with spray foam, you will notice a significant difference in your home's comfort and energy costs. Our customers certainly have, and some have shared their energy-saving stories through their Google reviews.
The Bottom Line About The Benefits Of New Attic Insulation
When attic insulation is installed the right way, it can have a huge impact on a home. Homes can be very uncomfortable during extreme months, and it can be quite expensive to pay for heating and cooling alone. Removing existing insulation and installing new should make your home more energy efficient.
Now that you understand the effect of attic insulation on your home, your next step is to:
- Estimate the cost of insulating your attic
- Decide between a vented or unvented attic
- Choose an insulation product for your attic
Disclaimer: While we strive to publish information accurate to building science, local building codes and standards supersede our recommendations.
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