A home improvement project that should not be overlooked or underestimated is properly insulating your home. A big percentage of your energy consumption goes towards heating and cooling your home. This might not seem like a big deal, but often the cause of high heating costs is poor insulation. If your home is poorly insulated, your heating systems have to work even harder to get your home to your ideal temperature. It’s better to address the heat loss at its source rather than sweep it under the rug by cranking up your heater during the winter or your air conditioning in the summer. Here’s a list of home improvement projects for better insulation.
Doors
Heat can escape through your doors if they aren’t properly insulated. If you have the funds and want to go all out, you could replace your doors completely. Insulation quality also depends on the material of your doors – some materials are better insulators than others. Make sure to leave no stones unturned and check on your garage doors as well since they’re the biggest exterior doors in your home.
You can also add a storm door instead of replacing your front or back door. These are typically made of fiberglass, steel, or aluminum and serve to protect your door from harsh weather conditions. A storm door is a worthy investment, especially if your exterior door is made of wood, which is the material most vulnerable to weather damage.
But if you’re not willing to shell out for door replacements, there are other ways to keep heat from escaping through your doors. Cover the gaps between the door and the walls and the floor with a door snake or door sweep and weatherstripping.
Roofing
Your house’s roofing material should depend on what climate and weather you experience in your region. For cold climates, metal is one of your best options. Its ability to reflect heat means that snow will easily shed off in the winter and your home won’t feel like an oven in the summer. Metal roofs, however, needs additional insulation for the colder seasons. Make sure to ask your contractor to add insulation layers for your metal roof.
Whatever your roof is made of, it’s worth having a professional inspect it if you’ve been experiencing heat loss and draughty winds in your home.
Attic
A lot of heat escapes into the attic, which won’t do you any good, especially if you leave that room unoccupied. The best kind of attic insulation is the blanket-type, which is laid on the attic floor to keep the heat locked in below it. These can be made of foam or fiberglass. But if you only need to caulk air leaks, your best bet is open-cell or closed-cell foam insulation.
Windows
You might not even be aware of it, but the heat could be escaping out from your windows. And no, the solution isn’t to keep them closed. There are different kinds of insulation for your windows you could get depending on your region’s climate. For instance, tinted windows are recommended for warmer climates, as the tinting can reduce heat absorption from the sun. Buildings in colder climates benefit from double- or triple-glazed windows. These types are composed of two or three panes of glass with spaces for air between each pane. The air spaces are what keeps heat from transferring to the window and outside the building.
A lot of the heat that you work hard and pay dearly to generate is lost to the outside because your home is poorly insulated. As a result, you try to compensate by cranking up your heating efforts, which only costs you more money. Cut your energy costs by properly insulating your home.