Does your home need more insulation? Unless your home was constructed with special attention to energy efficiency, adding insulation will probably reduce your utility bills. Much of the existing housing stock in the United States was not insulated to the levels used today. Older homes are likely to use more energy than newer homes, leading to higher heating and air-conditioning bills.
Where and How Much
Adding more insulation where you already have some, such as in an attic, will save energy. You can save even greater amounts of energy if you install insulation into places in your home that have never been insulated. These might include an uninsulated floor over a garage or crawlspace, or a wall that separates a room from the attic. The easiest thing to do is call HEP for an energy audit to determine what you currently have and what needs improving. State energy offices are another valuable resource for information. An excellent resource is TVA. An energy audit of your house will identify the amount of insulation you have and need, and will likely recommend other improvements as well. If you don’t have someone inspect your home, you’ll need to find out how much insulation you already have.
How Much Insulation Do I Already Have?
Look into your attic. We start with the attic because it is usually easy to add insulation to an attic. That means you are more likely to save a lot of energy for less money spent. This table will help you figure out what kind of insulation you have and what its R-value is.
Look into your walls. It is difficult to add insulation to existing walls unless:
- You are planning to add new siding to your house, or
- You plan to finish unfinished space (like a basement or bonus room).
If so, you need to know whether the exterior walls are already insulated or not. One method is to use an electrical outlet on the wall, but first be sure to turn off the power to the outlet. Then remove the cover plate and shine a flashlight into the crack around the outlet box. You should be able to see whether or not insulation is in the wall. Also, you should check separate outlets on the first and second floor, and in old and new parts of the house, because wall insulation in one wall doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s everywhere in the house. An alternative to checking through electrical outlets is to remove and then replace a small section of the exterior siding.
Look under your floors. Look at the underside of any floor over an unheated space like a garage, basement, or crawlspace. Inspect and measure the thickness of any insulation you find there. It will most likely be a fiberglass batt, so multiply the thickness in inches by 3.2 to find out the R-value (or the R-value might be visible on a product label). If the insulation is a foam board or sprayed-on foam, use any visible label information or multiply the thickness in inches by 5 to estimate the R-value.
Look at your ductwork. Don’t overlook another area in your home where energy can be saved – the ductwork of the heating and air- conditioning system. If the ducts of your heating or air-conditioning system run through unheated or uncooled spaces in your home, such as attic or crawlspaces, then the ducts should be insulated. First check the ductwork for air leaks. Repair leaking joints first with mechanical fasteners, then seal any remaining leaks with water-soluble mastic and embedded fiber glass mesh. Never use gray cloth duct tape because it degrades, cracks, and loses its bond with age. If a joint has to be accessible for future maintenance, use pressure- or heat-sensitive aluminum foil tape. Then wrap the ducts with duct wrap insulation of R-8 with a vapor retarder facing on the outer side. All joints where sections of insulation meet should have overlapped facings and be tightly sealed with fiber glass tape; but avoid compressing the insulation, thus reducing its thickness and R-value.
Return air ducts are often located inside the heated portion of the house where they don’t need to be insulated, but they should still be sealed off from air passageways that connect to unheated areas. Drywall- to-ductwork connections should be inspected because they are often poor (or nonexistent) and lead to unwanted air flows through wall cavities. If the return air ducts are located in an unconditioned part of the building, they should be insulated. HEP can also help you with all of your duct repairs and even cleaning.
Look at your pipes. If water pipes run through unheated or uncooled spaces in your home, such as attic or crawlspaces, then the pipes should be insulated.
After you know what you have, take a look at our recommedations page to see where you need to be.
