When Should You Think About New Insulation?

Insulation makes your home more efficient and cost effective, but not all insulation was created equally. Old, thin fiberglass insulation just doesn't stack up against today's energy efficient substitutes. Your fiberglass insulation should remain bright pink or yellow for the duration of it's life.Most of the houses that we visit, we see the exact opposite. Most of the insulation is discolored, dirty, and full of debris from air passing through it, diminishing the true R-value (capacity to resist heatflow) of the insulation. It will not perform at optimal levels.

When you see dirty discolored fiberglass as shown in this picture, it could be a symptom of several issues:

• It is not keeping in the conditioned air you are paying for. The dark area shows the deposits of dirt, dust, and debris that are moving through the fiberglass batt. It gets stuck in the insulation as if it was filtering the air, but just ruins the insulation.
• As the air moves through the batts, fiberglass particulate gets airborne and actually enters the house through all of the air leakage points and duct work that is located in the attic or crawlspace.
• Contributes to poor indoor air quality. Much of the dust in a home is not coming from outside! It comes through the insulated parts of the home bringing the fiberglass particulate with it, making your indoor air quality 100 times worse than outside.

This problem is one that can be effectively treated by a qualified company that understands how air and moisture moves through a building like Dr. Energy Saver. We can offer solutions that will actually correct the problem, just replacing or covering the old insulation will not do the job and could make the indoor air quality, comfort, and energy savings worse!

Today's building standard is R-49 insulation on your ceiling. This requires 16 inch thick fiberglass insulation on your attic deck minimum! So when you take a trip up into your attic and see thin insulation batts that look like they haven't been touched in years, chances are you're under insulated. When you lack the necessary insulation, you allow the conditioned air you pay for to escape outside of your home. The insulation in this picture looks as if it has laid undisturbed fo 30+ years while leaving the homeowners uncomfortable and under insulated.

Here are some other key indicators that your insulation may be failing your home and you should give us a call! 

Insulating is the most simple way to maintain comfortability in your home. Keeping the conditioned air that you pay for inside your home should be a top priority for whomever pays the electric/heating bills in your home. Dr. Energy is here to help you and save you money in the long run. Please contact us to get a free in home diagnosis of your issues!