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Protect Your Home From Damage | Koala Insulation

Protect Your Home From Damage

When was the last time you inspected your attic insulation? Do you remember how much damage ice dams caused Atlanta homes in the Winter of 2014?

Do you even know what an Ice Dam is? (No, it’s not Arctic Beavers stacking blocks of ice on your roof.)

Having properly installed insulation will prevent all sorts of damage from inconveniencing your family and stealing money away from your Caribbean vacation budget.

There are four types of Damage (and one Bonus type if you read to the end), which Koala Insulation can help prevent:

1. Moisture damage due to poor attic ventilation
2. Damage caused by old insulation
3. Structural damage
4. Damage from Ice Dam formation
5. And the bonus you’d never guess

Let’s get to it!

Poor Attic Ventilation

Atlanta area attics will get attacked by hot and humid weather in the Summers and some below freezing temperatures in the Winters.

Ideally you want your attic to be as close to the external temperature as possible. You can do this for both seasons by having proper air ventilation.

Proper ventilation also avoids moisture and water damage.

During the Winter, warm air rises to the attic floor from the living areas below. When that warm humid air makes contact with the cool surfaces of the attic, it will condense.

In Summer, the heat and humidity outside contacting the cooler surfaces of your attic can also cause condensation.

Enough condensation over time, you’ll get silently growing mold and mildew.

Without circulating air from an attic fan or ridge vents, that condensation gets trapped in your attic, eventually becoming dozens of little puddles of water that could even lead to structural damage to the trusses and beams in your attic, which we’ll talk about next.

Old Insulation

You already know insulation is like a sweater for your home. But do you know if that sweater is moth eaten, ragged, and dingy? Removing old insulation is one of the most important home improvement tasks you can do to avoid future damage or repair current damage.

If your home’s insulation is 10-15 years old, it’s time to inspect it for damage or degradation. Mold and mildew could be growing in your attic’s insulation as a result from shingle damage during a rainstorm.

Pests like rodents and bugs could be nesting within your insulation, giving them free range to cause further damage in other parts of your home.

Finally, if your home has never had an insulation retrofit, then you need to check for asbestos in the old insulation and call immediately for old insulation removal.

Structural Damage

You may think attic insulation has nothing to do with potential structural damage to the house but think again!

Let’s revisit the moisture problem for a moment. If mold and mildew set into your wood and insulation, the wood will rot over time, eroding the structural integrity of the roof itself.

Another way the attic’s structure is impacted is by the settling of blown in insulation.

If there’s not enough insulation, the blown insulation can settle around the lower ends of trusses and beams creating a temperature differential. The top parts of trusses, closest to the roof, are colder during the winter and warmer in the summer than the bottom parts of the same trusses that are covered by insulation.

This means the exposed part of the beam will expand and contract more, leading to damage and warping over time.

That’s why it’s important to make sure all those vulnerable surfaces, nooks and crannies, are well insulated with something like spray foam insulation.

Ice Dam…Damage

If you lived in Atlanta during the winter of 2014, you remember “Snowpocalypse”.

According to “The Farmer’s Almanac”, Winter 2021-2022 will be a doozy for Atlanta. Even though in year’s past Atlanta homes didn’t have to worry too much about ice and snow on roofs, climate change appears to have changed the game on all of us.

A properly sealed and insulated attic can prevent damage from a cold weather phenomenon called Ice Dams.

Ice dams may occur because of air leaks. If the attic doesn’t have good air sealing insulation, warm air from your living space can escape into the attic warming the underside of the roof and causing the snow on the roof to melt. The run off of the snowmelt refreezes along the eaves and causes a growing dam of ice to form which could rip off gutters, siding, and roof overhangs.

So what can you do to prevent ice dams?

Make sure your attic is properly sealed with insulation and properly ventilated with attic fans and ridge vents; this is a good way of preventing the formation of those pesky ice dams.

Best Insulation Services in Atlanta

So those are the types of damage that could occur if you don’t have the best insulation installation in Central Atlanta.

Y’all know how crazy winters get in Atlanta—70 degrees one day and 28 degrees the next day. Have the right insulation professionally installed to prevent damage to your home by calling (404) 994-1287 or click here to schedule a Koala Insulation Free Evaluation.

Bonus Damage

Here’s the secret damage I left as a bonus; see if you guessed it!

Insufficient insulation can cause hearing damage (or at least annoyance).

If you can hear your neighbors arguing, the neighborhood traffic, or the TV three rooms down the hall, maybe you need to look into Koala’s insulation service!

Y’all be safe out there!