SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Blog

How Can Insulation Raise Your Local Fort Lauderdale Home Value?

It's important to ensure the changes you're making in your home have a positive effect on your environment ranging from the comfort and safety of your home to possible money-saving opportunities. Ensuring your home improvements have a quality return on investment should be a priority consideration when researching new renovation projects. When it comes to your home's insulation and air sealing, making the decision to replace deteriorated material can not only improve climate control but can also help improve your home's air quality and energy efficiency. Koala Insulation of Southwest Florida has more information on how updated insulation can be a cost-effective change that actually gives back.

What is Return on Investment?

An ROI, or return on investment, refers to how favorable the cost to performance ratio is for an investment. Common home improvements that typically have a high return for homeowners are projects like installing impact windows, reshingling your roof, or kitchen renovations. For example, the average ROI on installing impact windows on your home in Florida can yield an 80% to 86% return.

You can generally calculate return on investment by taking the Net ROI divided by the Cost of Investment; multiply the resulting number by 100% to calculate your ROI percentage. The Net ROI is found by taking the final value of investment (FVI) and subtracting the initial value of investment (IVI). While this may initially look complicated, once you have the numbers, it’s a simple plug-and-play equation; otherwise, your local industry experts can help you calculate estimated ROI for improvements you’re looking to make!

Return on Investment Choices

As mentioned earlier, it’s important to stay diligent in evaluating the quality of your investments as a homeowner. Experts have found that when a homeowner focuses on energy-efficient upgrades they will also upgrade the overall value of their home. There are various factors that will affect just how much these changes can improve the house’s worth such as where you live, the current market, what kind of upgrades, etc. Energy costs in your region will also affect how long it takes for you to recoup the costs for these “green” upgrades.

Energy-efficient appliances, systems, and fixtures are all popular upgrades that can attract buyers. According to the National Association of Realtors, environmentally friendly features played a significant role in the choices of both buyers and sellers. Another recent report found that more than half of realtors say that promoting energy-efficient features in listings attracts buyers. The return on investment of energy-efficient home improvements is always an important thing to consider for your home, regardless of whether you're planning to sell your house soon or you're being conscious of the impact of current decisions.

Reduces Monthly Costs

So, how can upgraded insulation and air sealing save your household money? Energy Star estimates about 90% of homes in the U.S. have poor air sealing and insulation coverage, which can contribute to severe air leaks and heat loss in the winter and cooled air in the summer. According to the EPA, homeowners can save on average about 15% on heating and cooling costs when they update their insulation.

To be more specific, updated insulation and air sealing impact climate control in your home. The material in insulation regulates temperature by reducing heat transfer, which is the rate at which heat enters and exits a building. If your home doesn't have quality coverage or has improperly installed insulation, you may experience irregular temperatures, drafts, and cold spots. A common problem with having insufficient insulation is that parts of your home may be disproportionally cold or hot compared to the rest of your home.

When your home is improperly insulated your HVAC system has to continuously run in order to match the desired temperature set on the thermostat. Due to this, you're using more energy to replace the air that is escaping through the cracks, gaps, and deteriorated material of your old insulation. If the problem isn't taken care of you may have to spend more on maintenance fees as your HVAC system will be overworked and therefore need repairs more often. Sealing air leaks and updating deteriorated material helps your home resist heat in the summer and contain desired warmth in the winter.

Energy Efficiency Benefits

According to the National Association of Home Builders, energy efficiency is a significant influence on buyers due to the rate of return these investments have as an existing feature of the home. Insulation has several environmental impacts that contribute to your home’s energy efficiency. As mentioned earlier, having upgraded material in your home can significantly reduce energy waste because your HVAC system will not have to constantly be running.

The insulation material itself may also have environmentally-friendly qualities, such as being made of recycled material. For example, cellulose consists of 80% recycled material, mostly recycled newspaper, while denim insulation contains recycled jeans and fabrics. Similarly, when your insulation is regularly evaluated and maintained, less material will need to be used which contributes to reduced waste. The industry is continuously making advancements and regularly updating practices to produce, install, and dispose of material in an environmentally conscious way to ensure that all aspects of insulation can be as environmentally friendly as possible. By changing out your home's current insulation, you're installing greener and more energy-efficient material that has the capability to last longer while also using less.

Raise Your Home’s Value with Updated Insulation

It's important to find a team that goes above and beyond instead of just meeting the basic requirements. Improving your home's value is about making the right investments that will not only benefit you and your household today but will also lead to significant payback for years to come. Koala Insulation of Southwest Florida is dedicated to bringing comfort, safety, and energy efficiency to our community while also remaining timely and cost-effective. With free evaluations, we aim to assist your home improvement choices in a way that is easy and cost-effective. To learn more about how updated insulation and air sealing can improve your home's environment and value, call Koala Insulation of Southwest Florida and schedule your free evaluation.