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Does my attic insulation need replacing in Corning NY

Does My Attic Insulation Need Replacing?

Homes built in the last 50 years have insulation everywhere—attic, walls, and floors. They may also have insulation around pipes or in other out-of-sight areas, and at entry points for utility lines and pipes. But the number one place insulation is most effective is in the attic. So, how do you know if your attic insulation is up to snuff?

Older Homes

The older a home is, the less likely it’s well insulated. Building codes—the official rules builders must go by when constructing a home—change every few years. The codes become more stringent and demanding with every revision. This means that newer homes are much better insulated and energy efficient than older homes. It also means that as we go back in time, homes were subject to less and less construction rules. You would be surprised at how lax codes were from a half century or more ago. And, worse, it was much more likely decades ago that shoddy workmanship and failure to meet building codes would get a pass by a disinterested inspector.

The result of these conditions means that it is increasingly likely that an older home has poor—or no—insulation in key areas such as the attic. The actual presence and condition of insulation will vary greatly depending on the age of the home, the region in which it was instructed, and the individuals involved in the construction and inspection process.

At best, the condition of insulation in older homes should be considered suspicious. An inspection by a qualified technician is crucial in determining the actual state of insulation in homes built 50 or more years ago.

Newer Homes

The term “newer home” is a bit nebulous. What exactly does “newer” mean? For purposes of this post we’ll consider that it means a home built less than 50 years ago. However, within that timeframe is a huge spectrum of variation in building codes, insulation technology, and code enforcement.

Generally speaking, the newer a home is the better the insulation will be. Unfortunately, there are still variables that affect the insulation quality of a brand-new home.

The International Building Code (IBC) has been adopted as the standard for construction across the United States. Local municipalities may add requirements of their own for buildings, but these would be additions to the IBC rather than modifications to it. So, everyone in the country has a known and respected guideline for construction. This should make things like insulation installation simple, right? Well, not so fast—there can still be variances and deficiencies.

The reason one new home’s insulation may vary from another one is that there are differing insulation requirements in different parts of the country, the installation skills of installers vary greatly, and it’s still possible to slip some shoddy insulation work by an inspector due to varying inspector knowledge and simple human oversight.

In addition to all the factors above, the IBC specifies a minimum set of standards. Now, these standards may be good. And they’re certainly better than they were in years past. But, there are levels of insulation quality that go well beyond the minimum, and insulation technology and techniques are constantly evolving. So even a new house built to the latest standards may not exhibit top-quality energy efficiency.

Where does that leave us? Basically, in the same place as with an older home—only a qualified insulation technician can tell the true state of a home’s insulation.

The Attic

We’ve covered a lot of background information without speaking directly about the attic. Let’s do that now.

In all likelihood, a homeowner will not have the knowledge or experience to determine the condition of attic insulation. A visual inspection by the homeowner may give some clues about the attic’s condition, but details will not likely be apparent. However, let’s talk about how to conduct a superficial inspection.

Homes constructed during the last couple of decades often have something that looks like a ruler set somewhere in the attic that indicates the number of inches of insulation that’s present. If your home has this feature then you can quickly check to see how many inches of insulation have been installed. The measuring device may also show the R-Value of insulation.

If your home doesn’t have anything already in the attic for measuring insulation, don’t worry—all you need is a tape measure to take your own measurement. However, the tape measure will not indicate the type of insulation used, so it may take some research on your part to figure out how to convert inches to R-Value, which depends on the insulation type used.

In any case, once you know how many inches of insulation have been used, and the type of insulation (thus giving the R-Value), you can compare that to standard charts for your area of the country to see how your insulation quite literally stacks up. Use this government chart to see what the minimum recommended R-Value is in your region. Hint: Look at the “un-insulated attic” column of the chart.

If your attic insulation doesn’t meet the recommended R-Value for your region, you are definitely under-insulated. And, even if you meet the minimum recommendation, you may still be under-insulated—after all, the chart gives minimum government standards which may have been exceeded by advancing insulation technology.

But that’s just the beginning. There is so much more to having an attic properly insulated than just meeting—or exceeding—the minimum government standards. First, you need to check the insulation level and R-Value at multiple points in the attic to make sure that your insulation coverage is consistent. Then it’s necessary to make sure that all access holes for pipes, venting, electrical lines, etc. have been properly sealed. And then there is the proper ventilation of the attic so that it can “breathe” a small amount of air without over-ventilation that takes away from your insulation’s energy efficiency. There’s so much involved in a proper attic inspection that a homeowner could easily miss numerous potential problem areas. That’s why an inspection by a professional is highly recommended.

How Do I Know If My Attic Is Properly Insulated?

The truth is, without a lot of training, you are just taking a guess at the condition of your attic’s insulation by inspecting it yourself. It takes considerable training and experience to understand all there is to know about identifying insulation problems—and knowing the right way for correcting them.

An inspection by a qualified insulation expert and a consultation with that expert is the best thing you can do to start your journey toward peace of mind and energy efficiency. At Koala Insulation, our technicians are experts in all kinds of insulation materials and installation techniques. Our experts bring state-of-the-art equipment with them to thoroughly inspect your home or building top to bottom, inside and out. They will give you a detailed assessment of your home. They will design a custom solution to meet your needs and will help answer your questions about the status of your insulation. And since every building is unique, your expert may suggest a combination of installation options to protect your home from noise, cold, heat, moisture, and pests.

Don’t forget that the investment you make today will reap years of energy-saving benefits. Contact us now to schedule a consultation to start your journey toward higher energy efficiency and better protection for your home.