Insulation

Frequently, it's not your furnace or your air conditioner's fault that it can't keep up with mother nature's deep mood swings: it's the lack of insulation.  Insulation is the clear winner when making decisions about getting the most bang for the home performance buck, starting with the attic.  Properly insulated homes perform better, are more comfortable, provide better indoor air quality, offer soundproofing, and improve a home’s market value. 

Most insulation in a home is charged with one simple task: resisting heat flow.  Too many homes have inadequate insulation.  This makes it very difficult to maintain constant temperatures in the home, burns lots of extra energy (and money), and causes overworked air conditioners and furnaces to wear out much sooner.  And that’s big money.

A weakness in a home’s insulation over 1-2% of the area being insulated can reduce the effectiveness of that insulation by 10-15% within that space.  In other words, small gaps in insulation can make a huge difference.  It’s important to find the best product for a given space, and install it properly…or risk having that work be undone by inefficiencies.           

In many applications, cellulose insulation is the best performer.  Attics are where cellulose shines, but its versatility allows it to be applied in walls by dense-packing or in a wall spray application.  Both options offer good air sealing capabilities, though the spray application is solely for new construction or home rehab (removal of wallboard/drywall).  Cellulose is typically 85% recycled material, flame-retardant, and pest-resistant.

But whether it's cellulose, foam board, fiberglass, spray foam, or recycled denim, it's important to  find the right material for the job and install it correctly.  

To see if you qualify for incentives that help pay for insulating your home, see our Incentives and Rebates page.