DALLAS Blog

Why 90% of Dallas Area Homes are Under-Insulated

It has been said by national energy experts that 90% of U.S. homes are not adequately insulated, and that is certainly true, if not truer, right here in North Dallas, Park Cities, Richardson and Plano. Most homes we inspect, whether in Highland Park, Preston Hollow or Plano, were built from 60 to 30 years ago when three or four inches of insulation was considered adequate. In 2015, the organization governing building standards called the International Code Council, developed insulation guidelines across the country that considered differences in climate. Dallas and Collin counties are in Zone 3, a zone that accounts for occasional extremes like what we experienced in February of 2021.

The IEC correctly determined that a simple case of more and better insulation will greatly reduce the work our air conditioning systems must perform to keep our homes comfortable and using less energy. North Texas cities adopted this new standard in 2015 as a code requirement – meaning all new homes must be built with deeper insulation. What that means in the attic is a minimum depth of 13 inches of blown-in fiberglass or 12 inches of cellulose to establish what the industry calls R-38. The R value is a measurement of insulation’s resistance to radiation, or heat transfer.

Builders, understandably, provide the minimum requirements for insulation, meaning that if your home is older than 7 years, you likely have significantly less insulation than you should to keep your home comfortable and to keep your HVAC system from working nearly non-stop. Koala Insulation of Dallas’ customers report energy savings and electricity bill reductions at various levels after increasing their insulation, but the important point is that most all report that their air conditioners run less often and temperature variations in the home are less. Adding insulation provides peace of mind: knowing that your air conditioner is not working as hard, that you are using less energy, and that your home’s temperature fluctuations are less extreme.