JACKSONVILLE Blog

Improve Temperature Regulation Throughout Your Jacksonville Home

Have you noticed one side of your house struggles to stay cool in the summer or warm in the winter? Has there been a gradual decrease in your indoor air quality that’s causing you to wake up with allergy-like symptoms and uncomfortable irritant exposure? Both of these are the first signs that your home’s building envelope is struggling to keep the house temperature regulated.

As fall starts to set in, it's important to be sure that your home is ready for the cooler months ahead. While Jacksonville doesn't typically see temperatures below freezing, it's still crucial to have the house evaluated for quality temperature regulation. You could not only be losing crucial heat to the competitive outside elements from things like poor air sealing, but an underperforming house could also be costing you high utility bills and maintenance fees.

What is Temperature Regulation?

Temperature regulation refers to the ability to keep a house comfortable and evenly heated or cooled throughout the year. Essentially, when you plug in the desired temperature into your thermostat, a temperature-regulated home will be able to evenly keep that temperature without needing to constantly kick on the HVAC unit.

There are a lot of factors that go into keeping your home temperature regulated. If you see your system struggling, it doesn’t automatically mean you’re in need of a new AC unit or furnace. Problems with your insulation, air sealing, and even the vents and inner system of the unit could be holding your home back. When struggling with temperature control, here are four adjustments you can make before winter hits your home.

4 Ways to Better Regulate Temperature

Inspect and Clean The Air Ducts

Your air ducts and vents contribute to indoor air quality, reducing health hazards, and keeping air moving effectively throughout your home. When you first moved into the home, you may not have noticed what your furniture was covering, a common first-time homeowner mistake. Blocking these air vents can not only affect how air moves throughout the home but also how dust, dirt, and other small bits of trash can pile up inside the ducts.

In many cases, you can shift around your furniture and vacuum out these areas to collect a majority of the blockage. After you've cleaned and adjusted your vents, a local handyman or heating and cooling company can provide a more accurate overview of the quality of your home's vent system. In the worst-case scenario, you'll need a professional to inspect your system for broken or damaged ducts that need a more thorough cleaning; this is often the case for older homes that may not have been well maintained by the previous owners.

Air Seal Windows and Doors

The EPA estimates that homeowners can save on average up to 15% on their heating and cooling bills after updating their insulation and air sealing the building envelope. Air sealing your home means finding gaps and cracks around the house, typically near outdoor access points, and filling or repairing the damage to prevent air leakage.

The most common areas you’ll need air sealing are around your windows and doors. You typically only need to fully replace these pieces in extreme cases of wear - for example, if your home hasn’t been renovated since before 1990 or if the home wasn’t evaluated after a major natural disaster. However, in most cases, it’s general wear and damage to the edges and frames around the windowsill or door jamb that contribute to reduced air quality and air leakage.

Retrofit Insulation

Insulation significantly contributes to temperature regulation because this happens to be the primary function of the material. While you’re most likely already familiar with the insulation in your attic, it can be more difficult to deduce the quality of the material within your walls, along the ceiling, and in the basement or crawl spaces. Having an industry expert evaluate the current state of your home’s insulation can greatly impact how well your building holds onto warmth or keeps out unwanted heat.

Retrofitting insulation is the practice of assessing the current insulation, locating pain points and poor coverage, and re-insulating targeted areas to improve the quality. While many insulation types are supposed to last up to 15 years, there are numerous variables that affect the rate of deterioration - moisture, pest infestation, foot traffic, natural damage, etc. By removing and replacing old and damaged insulation, your home is better equipped to keep your rooms evenly heated and cooled.

Invest in a Smart Thermostat

There are many minor adjustments you can make to your home that's not only helpful to temperature regulation but are also positive return on investments. One such change is investing in a smart thermostat to change the way your home is heated or cooled. You have the ability to:

• Schedule temperature adjustments
• Control your home’s temperature directly from your phone, even when you’re away from the house
• Adjust the changes in temperature to improve energy efficiency based on device feedback

While it can be especially tricky for those that aren't familiar with smart devices, these systems often provide easy-to-navigate suggestions and data that improve your quality of life. Many times, the user interface is adjustable in order to cater to every level of expertise, with the default view most often set up for beginners.

Learn More with Industry Experts

If you're starting to experience uncomfortable drafts, varying temperatures throughout your home, or a struggling thermostat, it's time to have your system evaluated. Especially if you're a first-time homeowner, you may be unaware that fall is one of the best times to have your insulation evaluated. Having properly installed material and quality coverage contributes significantly to a temperature-regulated house, affecting everything from your utility bills to the effectiveness of your HVAC system.

Our team of insulation experts at Koala Insulation of Jacksonville is here to provide a breakdown of your home’s insulation and air sealing. After scheduling a free evaluation, our technicians perform a thorough investigation of your home’s condition and walk you through a general overview of what’s working and what isn’t. Keeping your comfort and safety a top priority, we work with you on targeting pain points, scheduling an insulation update, and managing a workable budget. Contact our team today to learn more about how insulation can improve your temperature regulation with a free evaluation.