Keeping an energy-efficient home during a midwest winter can be a struggle, especially if you also want to keep a comfortable home. And sure, maybe you can handle turning the thermostat down a bit during a freezing cold night, but will your friends, family, and houseguests be ok with a cold and clammy home when they come to visit?
Let’s take a look at the home performance upgrades you can implement now, with the help of the Assured Insulation team, to keep your home both comfortable and efficient through the remainder of fall, into winter, and throughout every other season here in the Frankfort and Chicago Southland areas.
Why Is Your Home Cold & Uncomfortable?
Are your winter home comfort symptoms pretty obvious, like cold or uneven temperatures, or is it a little more befuddling? For example, maybe the thermostat is reading a temperature that would normally feel comfortable to you, but alas, you’ve got goosebumps and are searching for blankets to keep your home office warm. The common symptoms we hear about, especially during the winter, include:
Inconsistent room to room temperatures
Indoor drafts
High heating costs
So, why would this be happening when your furnace or boiler seems to be in perfect operating condition? Because there are inefficiencies in your home’s construction that are allowing for heat loss and outside air infiltration, which can cause a number of issues in your home all year round.
Poor Insulation & Air Gaps
There are two aspects of your home construction that are considered the main contributors to heat loss and outside air infiltration: your insulation, and the airtight seal of your home. Both of these two “systems” have the same goal: keep the air in your home inside, where you need it, and keep the outside air out.
While you may not notice any air holes or lapses in your insulation in your day-to-day living, if you were to thoroughly inspect your attic or crawl space, you might be able to see where water (or good old father time) has damaged your insulation. Or, maybe you could see a few small cracks in the basement walls or a tiny hole where light can get through in your attic. These are usually just the tip of the iceberg, as many of these issues are hard to locate without the use of specialized equipment.
The Solutions: Air Sealing & Insulation Upgrades
The first thought for many homeowners dealing with an uncomfortable winter home would be to replace or repair the heating system. But with an energy efficiency upgrade like improved insulation and professional air sealing, you might not have to go through the expense and headache of replacing your expensive HVAC equipment.
When completed together by an experienced insulation contractor, insulation and air sealing will go a long way toward improving your home’s efficiency and comfort. We look at your entire home using diagnostic tools like a blower door test and infrared camera imaging to paint a complete picture of how your home is performing—this is called an energy audit.
Then, we seal up those air holes one by one using an expanding foam material, entirely remove any outdated or damaged insulation, and replace it with a cost-effective insulation material that will provide the maximum amount of resistance to heat transfer (this is also referred to as the R-value).
Because crawl spaces and basements are particularly problematic areas for the housing stock of Frankfort and the surrounding areas, we may also recommend basement or crawl space encapsulation. This gives your home a nice pair of “waterproof boots” if you will, ensuring a steady, dry, and comfortable foundation for your home comfort in all seasons.