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Attic Insulation with Air Plus When you arrange to have us add insulation to your home, we:- Seal any air leaks in the attic air ducts
- Repair the attic service decking if needed
- Install an attic tent over the attic ladders to prevent insulation from coming down the ladder (for blown insulation)
- Add insulation to bring your home up to the R-value you want!
Call today to schedule a free estimate! On your estimate, our professional estimator will:- Examine your attic to determine the R-value of the existing insulation
- Check for any other problems that might be costing you money
- Provide you with an accurate quote for the services you are interested in.
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Insulation Tips
Adding insulation to your attic should be performed after any other improvement projects that will take place in the attic. Once the attic is filled with insulation, performing other attic upgrades will become much more difficult (and much more expensive).
Improvement projects that should be performed before having insulation added:- Any air conditioning/heating service
- Sealing air duct leaks
- Adding Radiant Barrier
- Adding Attic Ventilation
- Adding recessed lighting and sound fixtures
Have Radiant Barrier, Attic Ventilation, and Energy Star Windows added to your home in addition to insulation to maximize your home's energy efficiency and minimize your utility bills!
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Not all insulation services are equal.
There is more to adding insulation than just throwing a few extra inches in the attic. Poorly installed insulation can cause problems down the road. One issue with loose fill insulation, whether it is cellulose or fiber glass, is that it gets everywhere in the attic. Before we start adding insulation, we box off all of the recessed light fixtures, the attic access ladder, and the service walkway to the air conditioning equipment. This keeps the insulation where it is needed and creates a cleaner look to the attic.
We also install an attic tent over the attic access ladder. An attic tent is a zipper-sealed, insulated "door" that is mounted above the ladder. The attic tent provides insulation over the ladder (which cannot be covered with other forms of insulation) while further protecting against insulation entering your home. -
Even though fiber glass insulation does not create any dust, we still check for air duct leaks as part of our insulation service. This improves the efficiency of your system as well as preventing the possibility of dust or debris from entering your home. Once this is complete, we add insulation to reach the desired R-value.
We only use fiberglass insulation, which is superior to the cheaper cellulose insulation because fiberglass does not create dust (dust from cellulose is hazardous and can enter your home through the smallest of gaps) and because fiberglass is inflammable throughout its life (fire retardant chemicals in cellulose degrade over time, representing a major fire risk).
We take care to keep your home clean. We haul off any trash we create. Our job is not finished until your home looks like a home and not a work site. Air Plus is licensed and insured for your peace of mind!
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Why bother with Attic Insulation?
So why do you need insulation? The answer has to do with heat flow. Heat travels from warm objects to cooler objects until all objects are the same temperature. The rate of heat flow increases the greater the temperature difference between the two objects.
Heat flows in three main forms:
- Convection (hot air rising or cold air sinking),
- Conduction (heat movement between hot and cold objects that are in contact),
- and Radiation (infrared light emitted by hot objects).
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Insulation restricts heat flow.
As a home-owner, you pay a lot of money for the equipment and energy to overcome heat flow and keep your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter. If your home is poorly insulated, your equipment has to work harder and use more energy to overcome the heat flow, costing you more money!
Insulation is placed between warm and cold objects to slow down the flow of heat. Insulation acts like a coat, keeping the warm object warm, and the cold object cold. When placed in the attic above the ceiling of the home, insulation keeps the heat in during the winter and keeps the heat out during the summer.
This means that your equipment will use less energy all summer and winter, and will have an easier time keeping your home at the temperature you want.
An illustration of summer heat flow and the effects of different levels of insulation.
Summer Insulation Benefits
In the summer, heat from the hot outside air flows through the walls, windows, and attic into your cool home. Also, the sun's rays warm up your roof to well above the temperature of the air. This heat flows to your attic, and then into your home.
On a sunny, summer day the air inside a poorly-ventilated attic can be over 30 degrees warmer than the outside air! This means that in the summer, heat is entering your home from the attic much faster than from the walls.
You can reduce the summer heat flow from the attic even further by having Radiant Barrier and Attic Fans installed with your insulation.
An illustration of winter heat flow and the effects of different levels of insulation.
Winter Insulation Benefits
In the winter, heat from inside your warm home flows through the walls, windows, and attic out to the cold outside air.
The heat loss to the attic is significant because of the fact that heat rises. The air near the ceiling can easily be 10 degrees warmer than the air near the floor in the winter time. The heat flows to the attic quickly if there is no insulation to slow it down.
Despite the constant heat flow into the attic, the attic remains cool because the roof is not insulated. The result is a constant drain of heat from the house, which means that you constantly have to pay to put it back in (using your heater).-
The ability of insulation to restrict heat flow is measured by its R-value. The R-value of insulation depends on the type, material, and thickness of the insulation. Higher R-values indicate greater resistance to heat flow and thus better insulation.
The EPA and Department of Energy have published recommended insulation R-values based on what part of the United States you live in (included on the right). For the Dallas area (zone 3), they call for at least a total of R30, up to R60. The table at the bottom right gives the approximate R-value per inch of depth for several types of insulation.
Most homes are built with an eye toward cutting costs, not maximizing energy efficiency. As a result, if you have not had insulation added, your home likely has R19 or less.
If you have less than R30, you are below recommended values and are using more energy to air condition your home than you could be. If you have less than R60, adding more insulation would make your home even more energy efficient! -
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