Four Signs Your Home Needs New Insulation

Proper and lasting insulation is of utmost importance in order to maintain warm and cold air inside a home. Insulation acts a barrier and keeps warm air from escaping your home and also prevents hot air from entering your home. Heat always escapes to a cooler source and insulation is what will keep the cool and warm airflow in check. Typically, insulation is made up of various materials such as wool, cellulose, and fiberglass, along with foam. Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF) is renown for being a superior material for both insulation and commercial roofing projects, among other applications. SPF is the most robust insulating material on the market today and is frequently utilized to insulate a wide variety of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. Once insulation begins to wear down, your home will begin to display the tell-tale signs. Below are the 4 signs that your home needs new insulation.

1. Drafts in the Home

One of the first signs that your home insulation may need to be replaced is if you begin to experience drafts inside your home. Drafts are usually described as sweeps of cold air blowing across a room. The first thing that you should do to rule out any non-insulation issues to check that window and door crevices are properly sealed and closed. If they are, and there are no cracks, or holes, it’s highly likely that your insulation needs to be checked out.

Besides feeling a chilly breeze in your home, another sign that your insulation may need replacing is that the walls will feel cold to the touch. If your walls do feel significantly cold to the touch, the drafts may be coming from cooler air that is forcing its way through your insulation and warm air easily being pushed out. It could be that your insulation behind the walls is heavily worn, or is missing pieces and the air is circulating through. This is something you can fix by adding more insulation or getting new insulation installed.

2. Sporadic Indoor Temperature Changes

If the temperature in your home seems to be fluctuating this is a sure sign that insulation may be the problem. This is especially true if you set your home thermostat to stay at a consistent temperature but it continues to experience ups and down. Depending on the room in your home, you may to add on more insulation, or it may be a complete insulation update. If the air temperature continues to change in your home, your insulation is not fulfilling its function of maintaining airflow between cold and warmer sources.

3. Increase in Utility and Energy Bills

In the wintertime, insulation comes in handy because it keeps the warm air inside from escaping to the colder areas. If you notice a spike in your heat bill, it could be that your insulation needs replacing or updating because the warm air is escaping the home. In turn, the heating system in your house is working overtime to make up for any heat loss. The same applies to the summertime when you are using your A/C. If the electricity bill is going up because of the A/C being in constant use, it could be that your cooling unit is trying to leverage the loss of cooler air because heat is easily coming through the insulation from the outside. If this is the case, it’s important that your home insulation is inspected for any major gaps and worn down areas. Again, installing new installing may be the best solution.

4. Animal and Pest Infestations

As with humans who want to escape colder temperatures, animals are just the same! They want to find shelter in warmer areas so they can feel safe and warm during colder seasons. Unfortunately, many times animals and pests will seek shelter in your insulation and make it their habitat for the winter months. This is an alarming prospect considering that animals will destroy your insulation quicker than anything else. The next time you suspect rats, rodents, roaches, or squirrels have gotten to your insulation, check for the sure warning signs. Some of the signs include crumbling insulation, gnaw or chewing marks, feces embedded in the insulation, and dirt. If you don't address this issue in time, many of these pests can lay their eggs and multiply the problem on a grand scale. Not only will you have an insulation issue to tackle, but an enormous infestation issue to handle. To avoid this gruesome problem, make sure your insulation is up to date and install completely new insulation to avoid animal and pest concerns.

Some other Signs and Concerns

Another sign that your home needs new insulation is if you tend to have a lot of ice hanging over the roof of your home, or sticking to the sides of your house. This means that your insulation is not doing its job properly and needs to be looked at. Also, if you see that your insulation is wet, it’s a serious cause for concern. This could cause very dangerous and harmful mold and toxin buildup. If this is the case, you need to replace your insulation immediately to avoid any moisture build-up and especially avoid any health concerns.

If you are installing granite, marble, or any porous natural stone countertops make sure that you have insulation around those areas. A lack of proper insulation near these types of countertops can cause discoloration of your stone. Also, if you’re wall and ceilings are not properly barricaded with insulation, moisture will build up. Moisture rises and can again affect the surrounding countertops in a negative way. If your ceiling begins leaking and the issue is not correctly solved, continual dripping can cause water damage to your floor, cabinets or even your counter over time, which is why insulation is so important. On the opposite end of the spectrum, spray foam applications require a heat barrier.

Insulation manufacturing has greatly developed and improved over the years. If your home was built in 1970 or earlier and there has never been an insulation replacement, now is the time do so. Even if you have a more current home, it’s important to continue to check and look for signs of insulation health. This is especially true if your home has insulation made mostly of foam as this type of insulation wears down more quickly and is in need of more frequent updates. Spray foam can be installed over a wide variety of substrates, including concrete, wood, steel, and most existing roof systems. When it comes to roofing applications, SPF’s versatile adhesive property can translate to savings on roof removal expenses and landfill fees. Applicators can easily install a tapered foam roofing system, which is less expensive than installing other tapered roofing systems. Vertical terminations, protrusions, and mechanical unit risers can easily be spray applied with SPF, which makes them an integral part of the roofing system and minimizes addition material costs.

If you notice that you are experiencing the 4 signs mentioned above, it may very well be that your home needs new insulation. Don’t wait too long, instead check out what the problem may be, and contact a professional if needed. Having your home properly insulated will save you a lot of problems and also help you avoid future costs of repairs.

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