Is your lack of insulation hurting your home’s resale value? You may not realize what a huge impact insulation can play in your home’s efficiency; efficiency at both keeping the elements out and keeping conditioned air in.MTB Mechanical sees many preventable issues caused by improper and insufficient insulation. Here’s how upgrading your home’s insulation can actually raise its value.
How Insulation Protects Your Home
Insulation performs three basic mechanisms in your home: conduction, convection, and radiation. It’s all very scientific, but insulation basically works as a barrier or insulator against temperature differentiations in your home. Heat will move from warmer to cooler areas until there is no temperature difference and thus insulation helps keep the winter heat you’re paying for from flying out your roof, and also to keep the cool air you produce from being infiltrated by the hot outside air in summer.
What to Know About Insulation
Insulation’s effectiveness is measured in something called “R-value.” The higher the R-value, the better the insulation. How much R-value you’ll need depends on where you live, and what part of your home the insulation is in. Here in Charlotte, we’re between Zone 3 and Zone 4, depending on who you ask. That means your attic’s insulation should be rated somewhere between R30-R60. Your floor, conversely, only needs to be rated R25-R30. If your insulation was installed many years ago, there’s a decent chance it’s not R-valued high enough to adequately keep the air inside (and out of) your house.
How to Improve Your Home’s Value with Insulation
By far, the easiest and most affordable way to add value to your home through adding or improving insulation is in the attic. The good news is, a professional roofer can do the job for you in just a few hours! They’ll start by figuring out exactly where your current insulation is insufficient, then suggest ways to remedy the problem either by adding more, using a new material, or replacing it altogether. Better attic insulation helps keep your HVAC costs low, and is a feature you can market with when you eventually sell your home!
Some studies say up to 90% of American homes are under-insulated. Is yours one of them? Give our team a call today to find out more about how much poor insulation may be costing you – in the short term and the long run.
Reach us at (704) 459-4066
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