We frequently discuss ways to make your home more energy-efficient without sacrificing comfort, from using blackout curtains to keeping up with your seasonal HVAC maintenance, but one of the greatest factors in your Houma or Thibodaux area home’s comfort and energy efficiency is within the walls themselves. Your home’s insulation can have a major impact on both comfort and energy usage.
Insulation is designed to act as a barrier between the outdoors and the indoors. Installed in your walls, attic and crawlspace, insulation helps keep the temperature outside from interfering with the conditioned air inside.
Essentially, if your home has proper insulation, the temperature inside won’t rise and fall with the temperature outside; it will stay consistent with your thermostat settings. When your home is properly insulated, your HVAC system doesn’t have to work as hard to maintain an even, consistent temperature in all rooms.
Signs Your Home Lacks Proper Insulation
The Stack Effect. Caused by insufficient attic insulation, the stack effect is essentially heat transferring from warmer spaces to cooler—hot summer air coming in through the attic during summer and HVAC-heated air escaping through your attic during winter. If it’s always warmer upstairs than down, you may need to upgrade your attic insulation.
You Have An Older Home. The older your home is, the more likely your insulation is to be insufficient. In fact, many old homes were built with no insulation at all! Unless you have a new home that was built with energy-efficiency in mind, chances are good you could do with an insulation upgrade.
Your AC Vents “Sweat” With Condensate. When hot air meets cold, condensation forms. Insulated ducts won’t form condensation since they have the protective blanket around them to keep the hot and cold air apart. Better wall, crawlspace and attic insulation will also reduce the condensation effect.
Your Home Is Drafty. Part of how insulation keeps outdoor air from interfering with indoor air is by keep outdoor air out of your home. If you have a draft. it means that not only is outdoor air getting in but indoor air is getting out, wasting energy and reducing home comfort. With better insulation comes better airtightness and no more uncomfortable drafts.
Call Doug’s For An Evaluation Of Your Insulation
If you notice your home showing signs of insufficient insulation, give Doug’s Refrigeration a call at (985) 746-1116. We’ll perform a complete energy analysis, evaluating the type of insulation you have, how much is present, and whether it is present throughout the home, then make recommendations to upgrade or replace your insulation to improve your home’s energy-efficiency and comfort. Contact us to get started.
