As seasons change, homeowners begin to assess how they can remain warm and comfortable at home while also saving on energy. Luckily the answer is simple and the benefits last forever – insulate and air seal the home’s building envelope.
Perhaps one of the most overlooked yet critical components of a home’s building envelope is its insulation and air sealing needs, according to The Reflector in Washington State. A well-insulated and air sealed home not only keeps the entire structure warm during the winter, but also helps reduce energy usage, saving homeowners money on costly heating bills.
Clark Public Utilities Public Information Officer Dameon Pesanti stresses the importance of ensuring your home is properly insulated, even before considering buying new energy-efficient appliances. “All the money you spend on other investments like a new heating system … you’re not gonna get the best value out of it because you’re making heat and it’s just disappearing, or it’s just literally going out of the walls … or the air conditioning you’re making in the summertime is just getting converted to heat so quickly by the outside,” said Pesanti.
Pesanti goes on to say that air leaks, which are hard to notice, tend to be the biggest culprit responsible for a home’s heat loss during the winter. “I’ve heard anecdotally from weatherization companies that if they go through an air seal like a whole house … it’s almost like death by 1,000 cuts. All the little air leaks that they find are the equivalent of having a window open in one room. Imagine that in December, leaving a window open all day long, all night long,” Pesanti said.
For homeowners that continually crank up their thermostat but still remain cold and uncomfortable, it may be time to check your home’s insulation needs. This is particularly true for homes built before the 1990s, which likely lack sufficient insulation and would be good candidates for an insulation upgrade.
One of the best ways to air seal and insulate your home is by installing spray foam insulation, which prevents conditioned air from escaping outside. For consumers worried about the cost of such an upgrade, incentives, such as those made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), allow homeowners the ability to enhance their properties. Specifically, the 25C tax credit program enables homeowners to receive up to $1,200 to help alleviate some of these initial insulation installation costs.
As the winter season approaches, homeowners should look to spray foam insulation as a common-sense solution to keep their home warm and save money while doing so.