Your Illinois home should be comfortable year-round, with the temperature exactly where you want it. However, if your home has been too hot for your liking this summer, it will definitely be too cold this winter. The way to get your home ready for the coming winter, and every subsequent season, is with high-efficiency insulation.
Too Hot, Too Cold or Just Right?
When a house is greatly affected by the temperature changes outdoors, becoming too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, this usually means that the home’s building envelope is not in place. A building envelope is made up of the thermal and pressure boundaries, where insulation and air sealing keep the outdoor air separate from a home’s conditioned air. Making your home “just right” throughout the year consists of having the building envelope in place with adequate air sealing and insulation.
Preparing Your Illinois Home for Winter
Getting your home ready for winter and, in essence, every season thereafter could save you money on your energy bills and help you stay comfortable year-round. So, what steps should you take when preparing your home for the upcoming winter months?
Schedule an Energy Audit
By having an energy audit conducted, you’ll gain new insights into your home’s inefficiencies. With an audit performed by a certified home performance expert, you’ll receive data gained from the blower door test and thermal camera imaging into where your home is losing energy, and recommendations on how to fix these issues.
Upgrade Insulation in the Attic
If your attic’s insulation is inadequate, it’s no surprise your home feels like an oven during the summer and a freezer in the winter. Attic insulation slows heat transmission, conserves energy, increases comfort by reducing temperature variances in your living space, reduces overall heating and cooling loads, and extends the lifespan of your HVAC systems. It may also aid in adding structural strength to your home, depending on the type of insulation used.
Air Seal
Insulating without air sealing is like trying to fix a leak in a boat by only using a bit of duct tape. Air sealing creates the pressure boundary in your home’s perimeter. Since air carries heat, moisture and pollution with it, if your home isn’t air sealed, it will be letting heat in and out readily, in addition to other unwanted particulates. By air sealing, you’ll not only improve the temperature regulation of your home, but also save on energy costs and improve your home’s indoor air quality.
Inspect Basement Insulation
Since heat can enter and exit your home through the basement, it’s important to inspect your basement insulation to ensure it’s doing its part in keeping your home’s temperature regulated. The basement may or may not be part of your home’s conditioned space, depending on whether it’s finished. Regardless, the building envelope should be intact somewhere in the basement to help you save energy and have a comfortable home throughout the entire year.
Contact Assured Insulation Solutions today to learn more about how insulation can help increase your comfort at home!