Even if you rarely venture into your home’s attic, it’s still crucial to keep this space thoroughly insulated. High-quality attic insulation helps maintain your home’s temperature, reduce heat loss during the cold winter months, and protects your structure from water intrusion. However, even the best attic insulation isn’t designed to last forever.
Below, we’d like to go over a few key signs that your home may need new attic insulation.
- Certain rooms are noticeably colder than others. One key indicator of poor or deteriorating attic insulation is inconsistent heating. If certain rooms around your house tend to feel much colder than others, or if some areas feel overly humid in the summer, there’s a strong possibility that your attic insulation is to blame.
- Your energy bills are increasing for no discernible reason. Unusually high energy costs are often the result of insulation issues. If your home’s attic insulation can’t reduce heat transfer, your HVAC system will need to work overtime to keep your house at a comfortable temperature, which can lead to skyrocketing energy bills.
- You can see visible damage in your attic. If your attic insulation has become flattened or compacted, it will no longer be thick enough to provide the same R-value it had when it was initially installed. Similarly, if the insulation has shifted and there are bare spots or gaps showing through the insulating materials, you may need new insulation to fill in these spots.
- Your attic insulation is over 15 years old. Depending on what type of insulation you have, it may start to become less effective within 15 to 20 years. If you have an older home with original insulation, there’s a strong chance that you could enhance your indoor comfort simply by upgrading to more efficient insulation.