Home Insulation: Where Should You Start?

Posted on: Nov 17, 2022

Did you know that heating and cooling a home amounts to at least 50% of most people’s energy bills in the United States?

Home insulation helps you save all season long. Because heat travels to cold areas and rises, gaps in your insulation lower your home’s energy efficiency, which is why many people have high energy bills.

Oklahoma is a state with one of the most expensive energy bills and the fastest-growing energy costs in the country. Oklahoma residents should be quick to consider insulating or re-insulating their homes if they want to save on their energy bills.

In the long run, installing insulation costs far less than recurring high energy bills. Here’s what areas of your home you should insulate first.

The Attic

Without a doubt, your home insulation project should begin with attic insulation. 

Attics are the nexus of air travel and temperature change in a home. In the winter, hot air flows out of your home through gaps in the insulation, and vice versa in the summer. 

Mold and mildew buildup in your attic likely occurs because of poor attic insulation. Mold and mildew can negatively affect your health, especially if you have allergies.

Benefits of Attic Insulation:

• Stops warm air from escaping in cold months
• Prevents warm air from seeping in during summer
• Provides year-round cost savings
• Impacts overall home temperature 
• Prevents moisture buildup, preventing mold, mildew, and wood rot

Exterior Walls

If your home has properly-installed attic insulation and still feels chilly during the winter, you likely need to replace or install exterior wall insulation. 

With an extra layer of protection from outside temperature changes, you can more freely regulate the temperature inside your home. You can also protect your walls from condensation depending on your insulation type.

Wall insulation also provides soundproofing, so you hear less outside noise from traffic or loud neighbors.

Benefits of Exterior Wall Insulation:

• Keeps warm air in during the winter and out during the summer
• Helps soundproof your home
• Increases energy efficiency

Crawl Spaces

The main benefit of installing crawl space insulation is that your pipes are less likely to freeze. Without crawl space insulation, homes dealing with Oklahoma winters experience a heat sink, which draws heat away from the residential areas of your home and overworks your furnace.

With crawl space insulation, hot water comes out quicker. Your heating and A/C system are also more efficient because your home’s ducts take less time to heat up.

Benefits of Crawl Space Insulation:

• Helps prevent your pipes from freezing
• Protects against moisture
• Stops the spread of pests
• Increases energy efficiency
• Hot water comes out faster

Floors

If you’ve noticed that different levels of your home are at different temperatures, it’s probably time to install floor insulation. 

Similar to crawl space insulation, and unlike attic insulation, people install floor insulation to prevent heat from sinking to lower floors. Because the ground is perpetually cold during the winter, heat from your home will travel downward.

Floor insulation ensures that you and your family don’t have to walk around in slippers, socks, or shoes, even during the most severe snowstorms. If your family did decide to still wear shoes indoors, you’d likely not hear their stamping feet with floor insulation.

Benefits of Floor Insulation:

• Stops warm air from sinking excessively
• Soundproofs your home
• Keeps your floors warm
• Insulates the rest of your home from cold areas (garage, basement)

Start Your Home Insulation Project with Airco Services

Installing insulation is a difficult task to do on your own, especially if you’re installing insulation in an attic. You need to consider ventilation, air infiltration, and vapor retardants.

If you need a hand, contact Airco Service for a free estimate and to schedule a consultation today.