How to Know if Your Home Has Adequate Insulation

The key to a comfortable and energy efficient home is more than just well-built walls and a roof.  Without proper insulation, a home cannot keep heated or cooled air inside and protect it from leaking outside air in.

The key to a comfortable and energy efficient home is more than just well-built walls and a roof.  Without proper insulation, a home cannot keep heated or cooled air inside and protect it from leaking outside air in.  When a home is built contractors will insulate inside the walls and ceiling but not every home has proper amounts of insulation and older home’s insulation may have deteriorated to the point of no longer being effective.  So, how do you know if your home has adequate insulation without having x-ray vision to see into your walls?  And, even if you do climb into the attic to look at how much insulation your home has, how do you know what seems like an appropriate amount?  It can be very challenging and many homeowners smartly opt to have a professional contractor come in to assess insulation levels and determine how much additional insulation is needed. Energy.Gov explains the three key factors to consider when determining how much insulation your home might need:

• Where your home is, isn’t, and/or should be insulated.
• What type of insulation you have.
• The R-value and the thickness or depth (inches) of the insulation you have.

To determine if your interior walls have adequate insulation you will need access to the inside of the wall through a small hole – ideally an electrical outlet since it is an existing hole in the wall. There are a variety of ways to gain access to the interior of a wall if an electrical outlet is not ideal or an option but to avoid damaging walls with unsightly holes that are difficult to patch, it should be done in an inconspicuous location.  For this reason, it is probably best to have a professional do this.  Profesionals can use infrared cameras and borescopes to get a better idea of what is inside your walls.  Most newer homes (homes built after 1970 or so) should have adequate insulation inside their interior walls but any homes do not have adequate insulation in their ceilings/attics.  Older types of insulation that have been blown into the walls may settle over time so some insulation may be need to be added but the bulk of homes are going to want to take a closer look at the ceiling/attic area to see if improvements are needed.

Even if your home has some insulation in the attic it may not be enough and more insulation could make a big dent in your energy bills over time.  As mentioned above, the R-value is an important thing to determine because it will give you a clear indication of whether or not you need more insulation.  Once your contractor or energy auditor has determined the R-value, Energy.Gov has a handy tool to help you figure out what the next best step is, “When you find out the R-values of your insulation either from an energy assessment, the home builder, or your own inspection, you can then use the Home Energy Saver tool to determine how much insulation you should add and where you should add it for maximum energy efficiency…The Home Energy Saver calculator also provides recommendations on energy upgrades, including insulation, and their rate of return.”  Speak to your contractor about what type of insulation may be needed for your home, as well as how much, so that you can begin to enjoy the comfort and savings of improved energy efficiency.