Blowing insulation into an attic space is a remarkably simple home energy retrofit project that can have truly enormous financial and energy saving payback.
Insulation is one of the cheapest components of a home,
yet has the largest potential for saving money over the course of the life of a
building.
During the summer season, an attic space can become a sweltering sauna. Good attic insulation limits the amount of heat that radiates into the living space of your home.
Typically, houses in warm-weather states should have an R-38
insulation in the attic, whereas houses in cold climates should have R-49.
These insulation levels will keep heated air from migrating out in winter. In a
cooling climate, a good blanket of attic insulation helps keep the house cooler
and reduces the load on air-conditioning equipment.
Blowing attic insulation isn’t hard, but it’s dusty, sweaty
work. However the long-term payoff is
impressive. You could see your energy bills go down by as much as 15 to 25
percent depending on your climate and existing levels of insulation. And you
may also qualify for a tax credit on the cost of the insulation (check with the
IRS or at energystar.gov).
At the present time, blown in fiberglass and blown in
cellulose are pretty close in price per square foot at the wholesale level, +/-
15%. That means installed costs for cellulose and fiberglass blown in
insulation will be similar too. (Keep in mind that could still be a few hundred
dollars difference between fiberglass and cellulose. Cellulose was half what
fiberglass was about 15 years ago.)
If you want an exact number, you can contact a professional
contractor like J and B Roofing in Saint paul. J and B works with blown
insulation for Residential and Commercial Buildings in the Twin Cities metro area.
Long ago there were several insulation materials available:
Rockwool, Vermiculite, Fiberglass, Cellulose, Mineral-Wool, all sorts of stuff.
Over the years we’ve seen many come and go; they were found to be dangerous,
ineffective or impractical. Today there are basically two choices: Fiberglass
and Cellulose. The confusing thing is that Fiberglass is available in two
forms: rolled batting or blown, and Cellulose is only available as a blown
material. It’s not that difficult to figure out which one is best.
Fiberglass is available in two forms: as batting (rolled) or
as a loose-fill (blown) material. Many homeowners typically feel they want
rolled insulation, but once they do the research they find otherwise.
Fiberglass insulation, whether rolled or blown, has several negative
characteristics of significant concern. Please do your research before using
fiberglass!
Downside of Rolled
Insulation
The downfall of rolled material is that it must be placed
between each ceiling joist, sometimes fitting tightly, sometimes loosely.
Rolled material must go over, under and around the many obstacles in the attic
such as plumbing, piping and electrical conduit; this application compromises
the performance of the insulation by creating gaps, voids and other “leaks”.
The blown insulation application seals and provides a much “tighter” blanket of insulation
throughout the attic, this is referred to as a “monolithic fill”, which is a
fancy way of saying that the blown material and application offers a continuous
blanket of insulation that covers and seals over everything as a solid blanket.
Insulation has a tendency to settle thus reducing it’s
effectiveness. If you are considering getting an home attic insulation
evaluation contact a company like J and B Roofing a professional Licensed
contractor.
J and B Roofing, Siding Gutters, Blown Insulation
941 16th Ave N,
South St Paul, Mn. 55075
651-457-0391
