Why Insulating Your Home is Essential
Comfort and efficiency have become the two main things every homeowner wants to achieve, and what better way to do that than insulating your home?
As the planet is warming, we are spending more and more energy trying to cool down our homes in the summer, and heat them in winter. However, a typical home without insulation loses way too much heat, wasting precious energy to replace it.
As a result, home insulation is increasing in demand. In this article, we’ll explain the 4 main reasons why insulating your home is essential, both for your comfort, and the environment.
4 Reasons Why You Need to Insulate Your Home
1. Keep cool in the summer, and warm in the winter
Temperature plays a big part in how comfortable you feel in your home. And if comfort is what you seek, insulating your home will prove to be one of the smartest investments you can make.
It will improve your thermal comfort by reducing any cold drafts and heat losses through walls and air leaks. That way, you can easily maintain a more stable temperature throughout the year and enjoy a pleasant indoor environment at all times.
And the best part? You can achieve all that while drastically improving your home’s energy-efficiency, which brings us to our next benefit of insulating your home.
2. Reduce your energy costs
Who wouldn’t want to save some precious money by lowering their bills?
Heat flows from warmer to cooler spaces and insulating your house is the best way to stop it from escaping. Insulation will provide resistance to the heat flow and force it to stay inside, while also protecting your home from the outside weather conditions.
This will allow your heating and cooling system to work much more efficiently, saving energy along the way.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), you can save around 15% of the energy spent on heating and cooling just by properly insulating your home. That’s huge!
Besides lowering your utility bills, saving that much energy is immensely valuable for the environment, too.
3. Protect the environment
The environmental impact of our homes is enormous. In the UK, 40% of the CO2 emissions, and 27% of all the greenhouse gas emissions come from households, most of it for heating and cooling.
By insulating your home and reducing the amount of cooling and heating needed to keep you comfortable, you essentially burn less fossil fuel to produce that energy. As a result, the amount of polluting gases emitted into the atmosphere lowers dramatically.
4. Control condensation and prevent health problems
Having a safe indoor environment with high-quality air is very important, and even more so nowadays with the high pollution levels outside.
Insulation can help in this regard as well.
By installing proper insulation in your home, you can reduce condensation caused by temperature differences, thus resist the growth and formation of fungi, mold, or mildew.
All of these can cause dangerous respiratory problems, and you’ll be much better off avoiding those, especially now with the global respiratory disease caused by the Coronavirus.
Preventing mold and mildew will also save you money in the long run by not having to do costly repairs.
What Types of Insulation Are There?
Now that you know why insulating your home is essential for a healthier life and a cleaner environment, let’s see what are your options.
Wall Insulation
35% of the heat from your home is lost through the walls without proper insulation.
External wall insulation (EWI) is an easy and cost-effective way to insulate your home without sacrificing important indoor space.
In addition, it will also protect the outside of your house from the wear and tear of the elements.
Window Insulation
We all love to have a lot of windows in our house, but they can let out too much heat if they do not have the proper insulation materials.
Always make sure that you get double, or even triple, glazed windows. Having at least two panels of glass will make sure that the heat lost through them is minimized.
It’s a great way to reduce noise coming into your home as well, particularly if you live in a high-traffic area.
Roof Insulation
Around 25% of the heat in your home is lost through the roof.
According to the Energy Saving Trust, insulating the roof will pay for itself in less than two years with the savings from utility bills. Even though it’s not the most budget-friendly option, it’s well worth it for its efficiency.
Before insulating your roof, however, check if there are leaks or any damage that is responsible for all that heat loss.
Once you make sure your roof is damage-free, you can continue with the insulation.
Floor Insulation
Floor insulation is one of the most expensive options, and it’s best to do it last if you even need to in the first place.
Usually, modern houses have insulators under the concrete surface, but older houses might require some form of floor insulation.
Or, for a budget-friendly option, place some high-quality rugs around.
Conclusion
Insulation should be your top priory when looking to achieve a comfortable place to live in. Not only does it save you money by keeping your energy consumption low, it’s hugely beneficial for the environment as well.
Call a professional today, and take the first step towards having a greener home and a healthier life.