PEARLAND Blog

Don’t Forget to Update Insulation During Your South Texas Remodel!

The Benefits of Insulation

In order to keep your home temperature regulated and climate controlled, you need to regularly update insulation.  Material can be found installed throughout the house and is a crucial component in slowing heat transfer, which is the rate at which heat enters and exits a structure.  Your home's insulation was installed with several significant factors taken into account, including important variables such as building code requirements, your region's climate zone, and even the specific needs of the potential residents and household habits. The efficiency of the material that was installed can be measured by its R-value, which is short for resistance value; typically, materials with a higher R-value are more effective at slowing heat transfer.

While temperature regulation is the primary purpose of having effective insulation, many homeowners aren't familiar with the number of additional benefits this material can provide to a home. Regularly updated insulation can have helpful qualities such as providing effective vapor and moisture barriers, reducing noise between interior and exterior walls, and even improving indoor air quality. When you take the opportunity to evaluate and upgrade the insulation and air sealing in your home during a remodeling project, this can significantly contribute to improved thermal equality, reduced energy costs, and increased comfort and safety for you and your household.

3 Key Reasons to Replace Insulation During A Remodel

1. Easier Access

If your remodeling project already has you planning on repainting, removing and replacing drywall, or fixing up any problems with the building envelope, this provides the perfect opportunity to access insulation that could usually be hard to reach. For example, if you need to retrofit any insulation in the walls, you may need to remove drywall or a small piece of the exterior siding in order to reach the material for removal and replacement. When you're already planning on repairing these spaces, there's less concern about the impact of the existing structure in order to update the material.

If you’re working in the deepest parts of your attic, down in the crawl spaces, or in and around the wallboards, it’s important to take the extra step and inspect the insulation in these areas. This material most often falls victim to the “out of sight, out of mind” fate. Although it’s possible for any homeowner to calculate the average R-value for certain materials such as batts, it’s also important to take a closer look at the actual condition of the insulation. This helps to ensure it’s still operating effectively.

Check for signs of moisture, pest infestation, and other damages nearby or deflation in the material. Any of these issues are key indicators that you’ll need to remove and replace the insulation there as soon as possible. This close inspection could also reveal bigger problems, like water damage, pest nests, or problematic air leaks that can be extremely damaging to your home and pose potential risks to your health.

1. Uncovering Potential Health Risks

As you’re remodeling your home, checking your insulation during this process is crucial to protecting you and your household from potential health risks and hazards. As mentioned earlier, it’s necessary to keep an eye out for signs of damage or deterioration when you or an insulation professional inspects the material. Although there are many types of insulation that have a potential lifespan of 15 years, there are many circumstances that could increase the rate of deterioration, like damage from water or pests.

Discovering moisture or pest nests can point you in the direction of larger problems such as leaks, structural damage, and infestation. During any kind of home renovation project, you’ll need to look out for any previously hidden damages in areas that may initially go unnoticed. To help significantly reduce the risk of poor indoor air quality in your home, the improved material from upgraded insulation and air sealing reduces cracks, holes, and openings in the structure.

Sealing these areas reduces problematic air leaks while also minimizing the entrance of allergens, bacteria, and other outdoor pollutants. This can also create a vapor barrier to reduce incoming moisture and condensation from places like the ceiling, floors, and exterior walls. While renovating the home is also about improving aesthetics, it requires no extra effort to also pay attention to improving comfort and safety.

1. Increasing Savings

Finally, one of your top concerns during a remodel is most likely saving on time and costs in order to make a positive return on your home investments. This could be to increase the value of the house, improve your home’s energy efficiency, or reduce overall costs with upgraded products. Insulation is a great way to target all of these objectives; while the most significant of efficient insulation is to reduce energy costs, it also contributes to other factors that can increase the value of the house.

If the insulation throughout the structure has been poorly installed or significantly deteriorated, unwanted heat enters during the summer and desired warmth escapes throughout the winter. This leads to an overworked HVAC system that’s straining to make sure the temperature on the thermostat is met. While this significantly increases your heating and cooling bills throughout the year, it can also lead to higher and more frequent maintenance fees for the HVAC system and unit.

Properly installed and maintained insulation and air sealing help to improve the climate control, temperature regulation, and indoor air quality of the house. This in turn helps to lower your HVAC needs and energy costs, even when your region starts to see extreme temperatures throughout the year.

Successfully Remodel Your Home With Less Hassle

When you take on the opportunity to remodel your home, it’s about more than increasing the value of the property. You may be looking to improve the aesthetics, add in some much-needed space, or simply upgrade your surroundings. Whatever the reason, adding an insulation and air sealing evaluation to your to-do list can help with these goals and more. On top of contributing to your overall return on investment, our free evaluations can also show you how upgraded material can reduce health risks and energy waste. Contact Koala Insulation of Pearland today to schedule your free evaluation and learn more about how insulation and air sealing can improve your environment.