Signs You Should Re-Insulate Your Home

If in doubt about whether or not to start re-insulating a house look for these signs. If more than a few are present then it’s definitely a time.

Inconsistent temperatures

In case you have noticed how the temperature level is not consistent in all the rooms of the house, then it is probably the right moment to start thinking about replacing insulation or improving it at least. The fact one room is warmer than the other shows how the current insulation is better in some parts of your home, but also quite poor in others. This means your home has lost its thermal efficiency.

Cold walls

You know the insulation in the house is on the proper level when all parts of it are warm and dry. So if you press your hand against the wall of any room and the wall is super cold, that is the sign your property is under-insulated. It’s the same with the ceiling or the floor of the house. The very structure of your home is the first line of difference from the outside temperature, and when they surrender you need to improve wall insulation for sure.

Freezes pipes

This is more than obvious! Frozen pipes are a sign of a poorly insulated home in extremely cold climates, and if that happens it is alarming, you need to do something about re-insulation asap. Not only this can lead to having nothing but cold water - that is just an inconvenience. The freezer pipes will often lead to bursting, which can create serious damage and take a lot from your home budget to fix.

High energy bills

Okay, high energy bills can be normal for homeowners who have their property in areas that tend to have a huge temperature movement throughout the year - from extremely cold to very warm. So the power is used to control the home temperature and keep it at optimum. But also, this can be a clear sign your insulation is deteriorating. To reduce electric bills you simply need to improve the insulation in every aspect you can. If you do so your heating and cooling systems won’t be working nonstop anymore, and therefore, your bills will start to normalize.

Allergies and illness

If you have noticed the members of your family are becoming more than often sick or they show more often signs of allergies, it may be because your insulation is in poor condition. The fact is, damaged insulation, or one that is wrongly done or aging, can become a perfect ground for growing bacteria, mold, fungi, and allergens. This can be extremely bad for young children, so re-insulation is a must in this case. Your home is probably not as well insulated as you thought, a fast-action Prodex Total might be the thing you need.

In case you still aren’t sure if the insulation replacement is in order, we will present you with clear indicators of how bad the insulation looks. Pay close attention to it!

Pests and rodents

This is not a main concern when it comes to house insulation, but it is an important issue and consequence of bad or degrading insulation. If you see pests and rodents in the interior of your home, as well as lots of bugs you should suspect the door and window insulation is not on the proper level, as well as the insulation of gaps.

Water leaks

It may happen that water starts leaking in your attic or really anywhere in your house if the insulation is bad. Yes, this may happen for a variety of reasons, but the insulation might be the one, and it often is. This means your home insulation is probably letting the heat out of the place just as it’s letting water inside.

Cold drafts

The showcase of cold drafts inside your home is without a doubt a reason to question your insulation. It goes without saying that this happens when all the doors and windows are closed. It means the insulation is not airtight so it's letting the air temperature from the outside penetrate inside your home.

Ice dams

The presentation of ice dams is often misunderstood as an outside problem when in reality it’s a clear sign the insulation of your interior isn’t good enough. When the heat from your interior gets leaked on the outside, it may melt snow from your roof, which then, in extremely cold outdoor temperatures can turn into ice dams. This is often an indicator that roof insulation needs fixing.

Noise

This is another aspect that will tell whether or not your home is well insulated. Good insulation keeps the noise from the outside from entering your home, and another way around. So if you're wondering if replacing insulation in walls is a necessary thing, the intensity of noise you hear from the outside will tell you. Also, if you cannot keep what’s happening inside private from your neighbors, things are pretty clear.

Now, when it comes to the insulating older home you must ask yourself if it is even worth it, both money and trouble. Because homes built before the 1960s can be a bit tricky to insulate properly and most people here made a tremendous mistake that only leads to additional problems.

These houses were built with air leaks on purpose to let them “breathe”. It’s their natural ventilation system, so when the wood the house was built from gets wet it can get dry easily. When modern insulation systems get applied on these old walls it almost always happens the moisture gets trapped, without a chance to get overpassed and the condensation starts building up. This later on leads to the build-up of mold and wood rot.

So insulating the walls of the old house demands more knowledge and more tactics. What you should do, instead of drilling holes in walls and blowing in the cellulose, which most people do, is to add a wrap and vapor barrier to the exterior walls of the house, then apply foam board and install siding on top of the insulation. Also, you can reduce the existing air leaks with weather stripping, or replace single-pane windows with those that are more energy-efficient.

The material you use for insulating or re-insulating your home, the climate area you live in, how well the insulation was executed, its R-value, and how you maintain your household and the structure of your home, it all determine the lifespan of your insulation. But generally speaking, this is a once or twice-in-a-lifetime endeavor, and you won’t have to invest in insulation more often unless some of these things happen that may diminish its lifespan and make you reinvest:

• Your roof gets damaged and water leaks present themselves
• Your insulation gets damaged by a storm, an animal, or human carelessness
• Your insulation gets “attacked” by mold (it can happen!)
• Your insulation get’s dusty - it’s a proven fact that dust accumulated on top of the insulation lowers its effectiveness
• Old house owners did a poor job of insulating it, or your home is older

To properly insulate your home you need to cover all the aspects - the roof insulation, walls insulation, crawl space insulation, attic insulation, garage insulation, slab insulation, etc. And yes, there are so many options you can choose from regarding every of these insulation areas, but we are here going to suggest what we believe are the best options.

Attic insulation

To prevent the cold air from seeping into your home you need to insulate the attic, which is what a great number of homeowners don’t do, believing it is not crucial to the overall insulation effect. And that’s where they make a huge miscalculation. The batt insulation, as well as loose-fill insulation are the way to go, but the loose-fill is a more economical solution and it can provide better coverage. Just make sure you do all the repair works on the roof first if there are any.

Ceiling insulation

When insulating the ceiling area 16-inch prodded Total is the way to go, because of its high ability to prevent condensation and heat transfer. It’s especially recommended for cathedral ceilings, but also you can use fiberglass batts or rigid foam insulation, but this one has to be covered with some fire-rated material.

Walls insulation

Blown-in insulation is always a good choice regarding wall insulation, because of its energy efficiency but also because it can be applied in a short period of time. You can go with either spray foam or cellulose insulation type here, with open wall cavities. Depending on the R-value you decide to use, new homes can be insulated with concrete blocks, insulated panels, or 48-inch Prodex that seals around nails perfectly and provides a vapor barrier.

Crawl space insulation

Without a doubt, investing in crawl space insulation will bring the level of your overall home insulation significantly. To do that you should insulate only crawl space walls, not the ceiling, and you should do it with rigid foam board insulation material. The recommendation provided by professionals is to avoid using cellulose or fiberglass for this insulation step.

Garage insulation

In case a garage is an integral part of your house you need to consider investing in its insulation because even though you don’t plan to spend time in this area, uninsulated garage walls will lower the energy-efficiency of your entire home. You can use pretty much any material you would use for insulating your home walls for this space, but you don’t have to worry about the garage walls coverage, the insulation may be left exposed if the esthetic is not the priority here. Perforated Prodex Total 5m is the material we use given it prevents 97% of radiant heat transfer and because it can be installed in a DIY manner.