Did you know that 90% of homes in the United States have insufficient insulation?
A problem we see quite often in homes across the greater Houston area is insufficient insulation, and even on the rare occasion there is enough insulation, it’s usually installed incorrectly. Here are a few issues caused by improperly or insufficiently installed insulation especially for crawl space insulation in Houston.
High Electric bills
When a home is not air sealed and insulated properly, the air that you paid to condition is constantly leaking out of the home through various penetrations in a process commonly referred to as stack effect. As the air in your home warms slightly and begins to rise, it escapes through various cracks and gaps in the ceiling that are sometimes unable to be seen because of the fiberglass materials covering them up. As that air leaves the home, so does the money in your wallet that you paid to cool that air. This process makes the homes mechanicals work twice as hard to heat or cool new outside air. Customers often complain that their HVAC units run almost all day and never shut off. A/C units running all day equals waisted money.
Hot or cold rooms
Have you ever notices a room that always stays hot or cold from other room in your home depending on the time of year? This is a definite sign of insufficient or improperly installed insulation. In addition to insulation issues, improperly air sealed homes will further the A/C unit to continualluy run. Air that is leaking out all the cracks and gaps it can find, can cause a home to depressurize. If air escaping from the home wasn’t bad enough, when Texas summer attic temperatures rang from 125-155° F with insufficient insulation- imagine how much heat gain comes into the homes. One of our recent customers had a room on the opposite end of their homes that count not maintain temperature like the other rooms. What we found were ceiling penetrations with no air sealing, improper and low insulation in the attic above the room, and the HVAC ductwork not insulated properly. This customer’s uncomfortable room was leaking air out and taking in heat gain from an under insulated attic. To make matters worse, this room was directly below the low sloped portion of the roof, which caused the HVAC ductwork to be crammed in-between the roof decking and ceiling of the room. With under insulated ducts, the HVAC system was sending cold air through an over “attic” before distributing the air to the room. First Defense Insulation was able to fix the customers uncomfortable room. If you are experiencing an uncomfortable home or rooms that wont heat or cool, contact us.
Poor Air Quality
In the words of Isaac Newton, “what goes up must come down”, so in a home, what goes out must have a way to come back in such as allergens and pollutants. This is quite bad for people with sensitive allergies. Once we can air seal and insulate properly we can then create a much safer air quality in your home.
Although there are many more issues that come with under insulated home, these are just a few that we come across quite often. If you are experiencing any of these issues from your home being under insulated give First Defense Insulation a call today to make your home more comfortable and energy efficient.
