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Insulation Upgrades

Steve Maxwell

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS:

Put in lots, put it in well, and we all come out ahead.

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Take a peak inside the walls and attic of any home built to pre-1970 standards, and you’ll see how very wrong popular opinion can be. Back then experts everywhere maintained that several inches of insulation was all anyone would ever need in walls and ceilings. Many postwar homes don’t even have that. But what did it matter anyway? So what if you have to burn several hundred gallons of extra heating oil a year? It’s cheap, clean and plentiful, right?

Opinions like these sound as ancient today as the fossil fuel deposits we burn to keep warm. But the error of those beliefs form the chilly winters and sweltering summers many homeowners endure today. Worse than that, it costs big money, too. Proper home insulation can play a big role in your financial bottom line, and successfully retrofitting your energy-guzzling home begins by understanding a few technicalities behind the issue.

Home insulation is about as glamorous as a multivitamin on an empty stomach, and that’s why it’s an under-appreciated, low-profile home improvement feature. And frankly, it’s also tied up with some pretty dry physics. Few people can get excited by the fact that heatloss in homes happens in two main ways: by conduction and convection. But when it comes to keeping your home warm in winter, cool in summer and cheap to run all year long, putting up with a bit of boredom is worth it. Hang in there.

Insulation works by reducing heat transfer via conduction. That’s just one of the mechanisms through which money seeps out of your wallet into the cold winter sky. Weather stripping, caulking and behind-the-plug sealing gaskets operate by reducing the second heat transfer mechanism -- convection -- better known as drafts. The first thing to understand about a well-insulated home is that it’s not necessarily a tight or energy-efficient home. You can add all the insulation you like to your place and still have a home energy problem if drafts sneak in around well-insulated walls and ceilings. But insulation is a necessary part of the equation, so let’s start there.

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