One of the most common misconceptions about home insulation is that you don’t have to worry about it ever again if at one point you already made the investment. Whether you had your home built or you purchased an existing home and the home inspector deemed the insulation to be adequate, if it has been a few years, it might benefit you to call a home insulation professional to have it inspected and assessed. Here are some of the things that may have occurred that will mean your home insulation may not be as good as you think it is:
- Settling – Not all home insulation will settle over time and if it was properly installed, there is a good chance it won’t have fallen victim to gravity enough to fall below its initial R-value. However, it is possible and it’s a simple matter to inspect to find out for sure.
- Gaps – Some families never go into their attic, but others use the space for storage, such as keeping holiday decorations there. Each trip to the attic could cause an area of insulation to be dislodged, resulting in gaps. You may also have had more traffic up there than you think in the form of rodents and insects. Rodents are particularly a problem for home insulation because they love to use it for nesting.
- Lighting Upgrade – If you have upgraded your home’s lighting with recessed lighting, you have likely created a situation where you need additional home insulation. This type of fixture is rarely airtight and allows your air conditioned and heated air to escape into the attic.
- New Standards – An older home would have been built and insulated based on the code regulations of that period. These could be insufficient by today’s standards and you’ll benefit from having the situation assessed and more insulation added, if needed. There are also new standards in insulation products themselves and what you have in your home may not be as energy efficient as a newer product would be.