Choosing the Right Insulation for Your Home

Choosing to update or even add insulation to your home is never going to be a bad decision.

The right insulation installed correctly offers many benefits, and the slowing of heat transfer between your house and the environment will help keep your living quarters more comfortable, reduce your energy usage and bills, and even make your home more desirable as potential buyers will be pleased that this is something they don’t need to do themselves.

But where do you start when choosing insulation? What do you need to know, and how do you choose the right one?

Where you’re using it

Before you make any other decisions, you need to be clear on where you’re insulating to find the right materials. Not all insulation materials are suitable for all environments.

You can add insulation to various places around the home, including attics, crawl spaces, basements, cavity walls around HVAC ducts, and around windows, doors, and recessed lighting, to name a few. So always look at where you’re insulating to make sure you use the appropriate materials for that exact space.

Know how much you need

This is really important as too much or too little will render it less effective

You need to understand the R-value, which is the measure of heat resistance of your insulation. This will give improved efficiency.

The ideal R-value for your home will be location-dependent. For example, if you live in Florida, you’ll need a different R-value for your insulation than in Wisconsin. One layer of R-30 might be sufficient in Florida, while homeowners in Wisconsin might prefer to increase the value to boost resistance. The higher the value, the better, but this means that if you need more insulation, you’ll need to be confident you have ordered enough.

Type of insulation

There’s more than just your own type of insulation for your home, and you need to understand what each one offers to make the right decision.

Batts and rolls, for example, are perfect for those needing a quick and easy solution, as you can find them in most hardware stores.

However, if you add spaces or shapes to the construction of the building, you might find other options, such as loose fill or blown-in in work better for your needs. This is where it’s worth consulting with experts like Insulation Commandos to help you ascertain the right type of insulation to use and ensure it is fitted correctly.

Size of the job

Adding insulation to your home can be a huge task, and it’s not always something you can DIY. This is especially true for older homes that need completely new insulation due to not having any, or if you need to remove ineffective insulation and replace it with new. Insulation for areas like external walls might need completion by trained professionals, or you might find you need to remove your belongings to allow you to access areas to insulate correctly. Make sure you know what to expect before you go ahead.