The Benefits of Installing Attic and Basement Insulation

Today we’re talking about the benefits of installing attic and basement insulation. Choosing to upgrade or reinsulate your home is a smart decision at any time of the year - new, more modern insulation will give you greater indoor comfort and help you save on your energy bills, especially as the days get colder. With many different options on the market, it can be a difficult to decide on what material to choose, let alone what company and where you should add more insulation.

Why attic and basement insulation need to both be installed?

Your home works as a whole system - when designing a new home or retrofitting an old one to be more energy efficient, it’s not just about replacing energy guzzlers, but considering how all the parts work together efficiently to offer the best solutions. This careful, detail oriented approach is often called the whole-house system, and it helps homeowners develop solutions and strategies to improve their home efficiency. The benefits of installing attic and basement insulation are all part of that - but we’ll get there in a moment.

First, in a whole-house system, the different variables that affect your home’s ability to be energy efficient include things such as:

• local climate
• insulation and air sealing
• lighting and day lighting
• windows, doors, and skylights
• appliances and electronics

When these component parts are addressed, they have a domino-like effect on the performance of the entire system - one affects the other. When considered as a whole, these improved variables in turn help your home to be:

• more comfortable
• less expensive to maintain
• a healthier indoor environment
• gentler on big appliances, such as your furnace

So what does this have to do with the benefits of installing attic and basement insulation?

At EcoStar Insulation, our focus is on providing the best quality insulation in the GTA. Our specialization is in spray foam insulation, which offers our clients a clean, maintenance-free, high quality insulation material.

For those who aren’t familiar with our product, spray foam insulation is applied using specialized equipment by trained technicians. It begins as a liquid, and as it is sprayed into the prepared walls and cavities of the home, it expands into a foam that quickly settles and provides superior insulation, moisture prevention, and helps seal air leaks. Unlike traditional insulation materials, it doesn’t require top ups over the years, and its unique air sealing benefits give it a huge advantage when it comes to making your home energy efficient.

Choosing to install spray foam insulation is one way to address the whole-house system of insulation and air sealing. But where should you install it? The two most common upgrades EcoStar Insulation does are to the basement and the attic. To achieve the complete advantages of new insulation and achieve a whole-house system, we at EcoStar recommends insulating both. Below are some of the benefits of installing attic and basement insulation.

Benefit 1: Cost Savings

The biggest of the benefits of installing attic and basement insulation is definitely the savings you’ll see on your home heating and cooling bill. The majority of people who install spray foam insulation in their attic and basement experience a high amount of savings as a direct result of reduced heat loss - some statistics place it at nearly 50%. And it’s not just the loss of heat that can be a drain on your pocket - during the hot summer months, keeping your cool air in is equally as important. In places like Toronto and the surrounding suburbs, where many homes were built before the 80s, old insulation and attics and basements with air leaks can be a huge unseen drain on a family’s monthly budget. As one of the top benefits of installing attic and basement insulation, the cost savings in both energy and maintenance bills is one of the most convincing reasons to re-insulate.

Benefit 2: Greening your Home

The second of the benefits of installing attic and basement insulation is the benefit the insulation has on the environment around us. While climate change and global warming are constantly in the news, it often seems that it’s a problem that’s too big to contribute to on your own. The good news is that insulating your attic can be one of the best ways to reduce your energy consumption, which in turn reduces the load on regional power systems. If these plants, which are often powered by fossil fuels, are producing less power, then they’re also producing less pollution. As one of the three R’s every kindergartener learns, reducing the amount of energy we are using in our homes and daily lives can have a big effect on a larger scale, making one of the benefits of installing attic and basement insulation a big win for the environment.

Benefit 3: Preventing Damage from Moisture

The last of the benefits of installing attic and basement insulation that we’re covering today is the damage that can come from moisture in the home. When an attic or basement isn’t properly insulated, heat can cause moisture to form inside your home - whether it be from melting snow causing ice dams, condensation behind drywall, or other problems. Wet fibreglass or batt insulation won’t do its job right - and wet wood, drywall, or other items in your home is a great place for mold to grow. Installing spray foam insulation is one of the best ways to prevent unwanted moisture from leaking into your home, since it seals cracks and gaps and also acts like a moisture barrier. Mold is an issue nobody wants - and with mold, prevention is the key.

Our top three benefits of installing attic and basement insulation are the direct benefits of upgrading your insulation and working on building a whole-house system. If you’re interested in learning more about how spray foam insulation might be helpful in your home, then give us a call at EcoStar Insulation at 647-799-3106. Upgrading your insulation will have an immediate, measurable effect on your home environment, and we’d be happy to tell you more about our products and services.