Insulation – what’s the big deal?

All newer homes have insulation installed to make a house more comfortable and efficient. Insulation works by slowing the transfer of heat, both from the outside in the summer and from the inside in the winter. Everyone knows that insulation is important but what is generally not known is how important proper installation of insulation is for optimum performance.

Insulation needs to be installed evenly and completely, with no gaps, compression or areas without insulation – like possibly in the corner of a stud bay. Insulation also has to touch the air barrier for it to work; insulation not touching the air barrier is like having your coat open on a cold day – it doesn’t work.

So you say, what’s the big deal? Because heat takes the path of least resistance, areas without or with little insulation transfer much more heat than the rest of the area. We will use an attic as an example. In a 1000 square foot attic insulated with R-38 that has an uninsulated (R-1) 10 square foot pull-down stair unit, the 1% of the attic with R-1 changes the overall average R-value of the attic from R-38 to R-28. That means that the 1% at R-1 reduces the attic’s average R-value by 27%!

Obviously the same is true for any areas of a home with insulation, like walls or floors. So what is a home buyer supposed to do, when the walls are covered with drywall and the buyer can’t see the insulation?   There is a simple answer – buy a home that has been inspected and certified by a third-party HERS rater.

Homes that are part of the Duke/Progress Energy HERO program performance path and homes that are ENERGY STAR certified have to be inspected by a HERS rater before drywall is installed.
In addition to many other details, the rater makes sure insulation is installed properly – and if not, the installer has to come back and fix it. It is then inspected again to make sure everything is correct. This insures that the house is more comfortable and efficient.

So to make sure the insulation in your house performs as it should, consider either a Duke/Progress Energy HERO home or an ENERGY STAR certified home. You pay for the warm air in the winter and cool air in the summer; you want them to stay in the house!

Absolute Construction is a multi-year Parade of Homes Gold Medal winner in Chatham county North Carolina, who builds award winning custom houses in Pittsboro, Chatham County, NC specifically in Chapel Ridge.