WEST HOUSTON Blog

4 Improvements To Your West Houston Home's Temperature Regulation

There are a few signs of discomfort that you need to pay close attention to. If you have one room or even an entire side of your home that struggles to stay at a comfortable temperature, it’s time to call in the insulation professionals. 

Insulation helps to maintain temperature regulation in each room which keeps your home safe and comfortable throughout the year. If you ignore irregular temperatures, you may also start to notice a significant decrease in your indoor air quality or higher humidity. Here are a few ways you can maintain temperature regulation in your home before it starts to take a toll on your comfort, safety, and savings. 

What is Temperature Regulation? 

For a residential or commercial building, temperature regulation is the ability to maintain a balanced temperature throughout the environment. Your home is considered temperature-regulated when it effectively stays comfortable and evenly heated or cooled throughout the year. 

Basically, if you set a desired temperature into a thermostat, is your house able to keep that temperature throughout each room without needing to constantly run the HVAC unit? 

There are several different systems in your home that support temperature regulation: insulation, ventilation, and even air sealing. When these systems begin to struggle, it may not be because of an old or damaged HVAC unit. Deterioration and neglected materials in your home can lead to drafts, cold spots, and discomfort. It’s important to take the time to check these common issues to start drastically improving your thermal consistency.  

4 Improvements to Your Home’s Temperature Regulation

• Clear The Air Ducts

The primary responsibility of your home's air ducts and the connecting vents is to move heat and cooled air through the building. On top of contributing to comfortable temperatures, they can also impact your indoor air quality and reduce potential health risks. 

When you were moving into your home, did you pay attention to where furniture was placed? Many homeowners don't take note of where air vents are located around the house. Large appliances or grames blocking and covering these vents can seriously reduce your comfort. They disrupt efficient airflow while also allowing the build-up of dust, dirt, and other debris.

This is one of the easiest problems to fix to improve temperature regulation. Simply start by moving the furniture around to unblock these spaces and vacuum the air ducts around your home to remove blockages. After this readjustment, talk with a local expert who can provide insight into the quality of your home's ventilation system. In the worst-case scenario, you'll need to hire a professional to evaluate any damaged ducts that could require a more thorough cleaning. However, this is generally only common for older homes that have been neglected over the last few years.

• Update Leaky Air Sealing

Your home’s air sealing plugs problematic gaps, cracks, and openings that create air leaks in your building envelope. When these holes are filled with a quality sealant, you’re reducing drafts, regulating temperature, and even lowering your utility bills.  The EPA estimates that homeowners can save upwards of 15% on heating and cooling bills after their insulation and air sealing have been updated. 

You’re going to find air leaks around window wills, door jambs, and other outdoor access points most often. While the structures themselves don’t need to be replaced, the sealant around the door, window, or opening should be regularly evaluated and updated to cut off unregulated airflow. In southeastern Texas cities like West Houston, extreme heat contributes to cracks and gaps throughout the foundation and facade of your building.

It’s important to remember that while you can find sealants at your local hardware store, air sealing isn’t always an easy DIY task. Even seemingly insignificant gaps and cracks can be contributing to indoor allergens and uncomfortable drafts. Having an expert locate and fill in these hidden areas can help you save more on your regular heating and cooling bills each month. 

• Retrofit Older Insulation

The primary goal of insulation is to regulate the temperature in a building and improve the climate control capabilities of your home. This makes it incredibly important to regularly evaluate and update the material in a house. Most homeowners are familiar with the material that can be found in the attic, but there is more material throughout the entire structure. Insulation needs to be updated in the walls, between ceiling joists, and even under your floors. 

Without the help of your local insulation professionals, it can be difficult to determine the current condition of the materials in these spaces. Koala Insulation of West Houston uses industry techniques and equipment, such as thermal imaging, to provide you with details on problematic spaces and potential hidden damages in the house. This helps to locate areas that are affected by unregulated heat transfer, which can significantly contribute to irregular temperatures and discomfort. 

This process of locating pain points, removing deteriorated or damaged material, and then adding newer insulation is called retrofitting. For areas that need quality improvement, this includes adding insulation to spaces that have poor coverage, removing deflated sections, or applying material to older areas. 

There are many types of insulation that have the potential to last up to 15 years. However, factors like extreme weather, leaks, moisture, pest infestation, and more can increase the rate of deterioration. Keep each floor and room of your home temperature regulated by regularly removing and replacing old materials.

• Switching To A Smart Thermostat

In order to improve the comfort of your home, you need to do more than just update materials and wait for signs of deterioration and damage. You should also be taking advantage of changes that have great return on investment opportunities. 

Installing a smart thermostat in your home seriously impacts the way your home is cooled and heated throughout the year. While this reduces your monthly utility bills it also increases energy efficiency by cutting back on energy waste. The device helps your home stay comfortable through various advantages: 

• Scheduling temperature adjustments throughout the day
• Controlling the temperature from a phone, even when you’re out of the house
• Improving energy efficiency based on feedback from your device’s data

If you or someone in the household aren't familiar with smart devices, these systems typically have easy-to-use apps and simple information to improve your quality of life. For many of these applications, the user interface is adjustable to cater to every level of expertise while the default is set for beginners. They're steadily becoming more common in houses to help reduce common air conditioning and heating mistakes that end up costing households hundreds each year.

How Can Insulation Improve Your Southeastern Texas Home?

At Koala Insulation of West Houston, we're dedicated to bringing our neighbors the best solutions that are both cost-effective and energy-efficient. You shouldn't have to avoid one area of your home during certain seasons because it gets too uncomfortable. When you start noticing signs of damaged or deteriorated material, give your local insulation professionals a call. Schedule your free evaluation with Koala Insulation of West Houston today to learn more about how our local experts can improve your comfort, safety, and savings.