With summer becoming a distant memory, homeowners across the nation are trembling at the thought of another wintry season with frigid, blustery weather. Without the right fall prep to your home, you could be caught with your winter pants down – with not enough protection in place to keep your home cozy and warm.
As fall brings cooler temperatures, there’s one thing you should do to your home to ready it for winter – beef up the insulation.
Is insulation getting the job done?
The home’s exterior can either make or break your comfort level this winter. As colder temperatures set in, your home’s shell acts like a thermos – or at least it should. The insulation keeps whatever’s inside warm, just like a portable thermos keeps hot chocolate at just the right temperature until you pull it out to take a swig. But over time, those thermos walls can break down. Maybe you’ve put it in the dishwasher too often, or maybe it’s just old.
Your home’s insulation can fall prey to the same circumstances. Over time, insulation wears out. Perhaps it wasn’t installed up to today’s codes. Maybe it was installed improperly. Whatever the reason, if the insulation can’t do its job of keeping heat inside, you’ll be feeling the wintry effects inside your home.
Insulation in action
You see, insulation is actually a barrier to heat. When it’s not working, you’ll feel the cool effects — which is anything BUT cool when winter’s knocking at your door! When it does work, it keeps the cold at bay. Here’s how:
- Your furnace circulates heat in the home.
- Insulation stops it from moving through the structure.
- Heat is always drawn to cooler places — a law of nature that’s always in effect.
- So when the insulation doesn’t work, you actually feel cold in your home because it’s losing heat — not because the outside cold is moving inside.
This fascinating, scientific explanation doesn’t do much to alleviate your suffering. However, it does shed light on why insulation is the secret to keeping the cold at arm’s length.
Fixing comfort issues
There’s almost nothing worse than knowing that a cold, bitter winter is ahead – except if you also know that your insulation won’t be keeping the heat in. If you’re less than absolutely confident that your insulation is up to the job, it’s time to take action.
Hire an expert to conduct an insulation evaluation – they’ll often do it for free – to find out how well your insulation is performing. If you need to upgrade it, consider choosing injection foam insulation. This unique material offers a few significant advantages for retrofits over common options like fiberglass or cellulose.
Installers pump the liquid-like insulation into walls and between studs in the attic, filling every last nook and cranny to the brim. The insulation quickly hardens, creating an air barrier as well as a heat barrier (remember how you need to keep heat inside the home to stay warm?). Finally, installers won’t have to tear into your exterior walls (or do a complete interior remodel) to add insulation. Only a few small holes are required to fill the walls with insulation, which are easily and seamlessly repaired. When the job’s done, no one will ever know that you’ve had insulation added through the exterior.
What you will notice, however, is a big difference in the comfort level of your home. You may not even notice when temperatures dip into the frigid zone or when the winds whip. You’ll be cozied up on your couch with a good book, oblivious to your surroundings — all thanks to your new and improved insulation.
Featured photo credit: Flickr via flickr.com
The post One Fall Prep Secret to Staying Warm All Winter appeared first on Lifehack.
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