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11 - Attic Insulation
from:Homeowners choose to install attic insulation themselves, or have a professional come in and install insulation insulation in their attics, for many different reasons. The main reason people choose to do this is because insulating the attic of a home is the most effective way found to improve the efficiency of the home. When the attic in a home is properly insulated, heating and cooling costs are noticeably decreased. Some homeowners have reported that the energy usage in their homes decreased up to 35 percent after having their attics properly insulated. The following paragraphs will discuss attic insulation, as well as some of the benefits associated with it.
Before you can completely understand how attic insulation helps decrease your energy bills, it is important to understand how the insulation actually works. Science tells us that heat will flow naturally from hotter areas in search of cooler areas to habitat. The three different methods that heat uses to flow to cooler areas are:
conduction
convection
radiation
Conduction occurs when the heat is actually delivered directly from one air mass to cooler mass of air. Convection is the transfer of heat from one space to another. Finally, radiation means that all hot air passes its heat toward cooler air, or "radiates".
Taking the above concepts into consideration, the main purpose of proper attic insulation is to minimize all three methods of heat flow. When heat flow is controlled in an attic, which is exactly what proper insulation is designed to do, a home will stay cooler during the summer months, as well as stay warmer during the winter months.
The best type of insulation for your attic can depend on several different factors. The main factor to take into consideration when trying to choose which type of attic insulation will work best for your home is the typical climate in your area. Two of the most common materials found in insulation are cellulose and the r value. If you live in an area where the temperatures have an extreme range from hot to cold, you will need to install insulation with a higher r value. If you have any questions about the type of insulation you need, you can contact a contractor for more advice. In most cases, a consultation with a contractor is free.
Proper attic insulation helps control the heat flow in your attic. Thus, installing attic insulation will help decrease your heating bills during cold months of the year and decrease cooling bills during the hot months of the year. Attic insulation can be installed inexpensively as a do it yourself home improvement project, or a contractor will do it for a reasonable cost.. Attic insulation is very important to the efficiency of every home.
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