Keep Your Attic from Wasting Energy and Money
September 13, 2016
The attic of your Des Moines home is an important part of your house’s thermal envelope, but it’s one that’s often overlooked. In the summer, the sun hitting your roof can raise the heat of your attic space far beyond any of the living areas of your home, causing heat to radiate downward. And in the winter, rising warm air can carry heat into your attic and out of your living areas, cooling them faster.
Importance of Making Your Home More Energy Efficient
Did you know that taking steps towards an energy efficient home is good for the environment? Making improvements on energy inefficient parts of your home, like your attic, can save natural resources, cut down on pollution, and reduce unnecessary energy consumption, as well as the demand for nonrenewable resources.
Not only is making your Des Moines home more energy efficient good for the environment, but it’s good for your wallet. According to energystar.gov, the average U.S. household spends $2,060 on energy annually, and making energy efficient improvements (see below) can save hundreds of dollars.
Get a Home Energy Audit
What’s the benefit of getting an energy audit on your home? A home energy audit can help homeowners determine whether their house is losing energy and how these problems can be corrected.
Are you wondering if your home is in need of a home energy audit? For Des Moines area homeowners, a MidAmerican Energy professional can perform a HomeCheck® to take a look at a home’s efficiency. It’s even possible to receive a monetary bonus for completing the energy assessment.
How to Make Your Attic More Energy Efficient
If your attic is a source of energy inefficiency, there are improvements you can make to prevent losing warm or cool air. You can avoid these issues by improving your attic space with one of a variety of methods, including:
Insulating Your Attic
Insulating any area will slow heat transfer into or out of it and, in an attic space, you’re dealing with a large expanse of interface between indoor and outdoor temperatures. You may choose to insulate the roof area (between the attic and the outside world), the floor of the attic (between the main areas of your house and the attic space itself), or both. There are different types of insulation to choose from, such as blown-in, blanket-type or sprayed foam polyurethane insulation. If you’re curious about how much insulation your attic would require, check out this Energy Star Online Home Audit.
Ensure Proper Attic Ventilation
It may seem odd to add insulation for warmth, but then purposely allow cold air to enter the attic. However, this combination is important to an energy efficient home. By allowing natural airflow to ventilate the attic in the winter, it can help reduce the risk of ice damming. To promote ventilation in the summer months, simply install ventilation in the form of an attic fan to expel heated air and draw in fresh outdoor air, preventing the attic from reaching an unsafe temperature.
Seal Leaks and Open Spaces
Your attic, like any space in your home, may develop air leaks which need to be sealed. What are the signs of needing to reseal the attic? Look for drafty rooms throughout your house, high heating or cooling bills and dust in the rooms below the attic. These leaks serve to equalize temperatures between your attic space and the air outside, which may or may not concern you — but they can also allow moisture to get inside of your attic walls, creating spaces where fungus, mold, and bacteria colonies can grow. Not only can these organisms trigger allergies and cause sickness, but they can also eat away at the structure of your attic if left unchecked.
What Lozier Heating and Cooling Can Do for You
At Lozier, our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues. From managing your attic to making sure you aren’t losing energy through your window treatments, we want to help you learn more about keeping your home comfortable. Call us or fill out our online form! We look forward to hearing from you.
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