Unlike a broken hot water heater or an air conditioner that suddenly only blows warm air out of your registers, your Tempe or Metro Phoenix area home’s insulation won’t suddenly stop working. You won’t wake up one morning to find that your insulation has disintegrated overnight.
But over time, home insulation does lose its effectiveness, and your home could benefit significantly, year-round, from removing and replacing old insulation. The question is: When? How much does insulation replacement cost, and when should you schedule a retrofit project for your home?
6 Signs You Need to Replace Your Insulation
If you’ve noticed any of the following signs, you could stand to benefit greatly from new insulation and air sealing.
1. Increased Energy Bills
Do you have a sneaking suspicion that your utility bills have been slowly rising? Take a look back through your statements. If your electricity of HVAC-related energy costs are on the rise, but your comfort habits haven’t changed, you could be wasting more and more energy because of deteriorating insulation.
According to the EPA, you could save as much as 15% on your annual heating and cooling costs when you upgrade your home’s insulation and air sealing!
2. Inconsistent Indoor Temperatures
Does your home’s indoor temperature swing dramatically depending on the weather outside? Hot rooms in the summer and cold rooms in the winter are a sign that the thermal boundary between the outdoors and your living spaces is weak, and your insulation is likely the culprit.
3. Visible Mold on Your Insulation
Most of your home insulation is hidden behind walls, but if there are areas of your home, like attics, basements, and crawl spaces, where insulation is exposed, do a visual inspection. Things like moisture and mold can dramatically weaken your insulation’s performance (and can also cause indoor air quality issues and health hazards). If you see mold, you’ll need to address the underlying moisture problems, but you’ll also need to replace your insulation as well.
4. Areas of Your Home Are Always Either Too Hot or Too Cold
Is there a particular room in your home that is always a bit uncomfortable to be in? Are your comfort levels on the second floor of your home often different from the first floor? Poor insulation could be letting lots of heat transfer in and out of the top parts of your home, like your attic.
5. You Have an Indoor Pest Problem
If you have critters like rodents and mice living in your walls or your attic, your insulation could be taking a hit. Homes that are surrounded by lemon, orange and other fruit trees in the Phoenix area are most likely to have pest issues. Wildlife and vermin have a tendency to nest in and even eat your insulation, damaging it in the process. We’ve even seen rodents chew through ductwork in order to keep cool in the stream of airflow! Plus, animal waste can create air quality issues that will circulate throughout your entire home.
6. Your Insulation Is Old
The older you know your insulation is, the likelier you could benefit from replacement. Older homes, on average, didn’t use as much insulation as today’s homes do, and many insulation types can settle over time and compress.
The Benefits of New Insulation
With a properly insulated home, you’ll see an increase in home comfort, and lower energy costs as well. The indoor temperatures will stay more consistent, too, throughout all rooms of the house.
Some customers ask us if it’s really necessary to remove existing insulation before installing new insulation. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just add blown in cellulose insulation on top of the old insulation?
While some homeowners may feel confident that they can cut corners, we don’t recommend it if fiberglass batting is present in your attic. If you have any moisture or mold issues with your current insulation, or there is animal waste, removing and replacing your old insulation is essential. Ideal Energy will assess your insulation’s condition and make recommendations on how to proceed from there and let you know if your home needs insulation removal and replacement or if we can work with your existing insulation in order to make sure your home will be comfortable and perform to its highest potential!.
Upgrade Your Home Today with Ideal Energy
Ideal Energy makes it easy to upgrade your home. We’ll handle all aspects of your home retrofit project, from insulation removal to installation and clean-up. From blown in insulation on your attic floor to dense pack insulation in your walls, we have the solutions for your home that will save you money and keep you comfortable.