You can never get too much insulation for your house. It is the main barrier between the cozy comfort of your home and the unforgiving weather outside. The type of insulation we are talking today about is often overlooked and always underrated. Insulating the attic is every bit as important as insulating the walls or any other part of the building.

Why Is Attic Insulation Important?

According to the stats of the US Department of Energy, attic insulation can reduce the heating and cooling costs of a building by as much as 50%. That’s just one reason to get your attic insulated. Here are four more.

• It extends the life of your roof by preventing ice dams. If your attic is not properly insulated, the heat from inside the building heats the shingles of the roof. This leads to the ice on the roof melting and seeping into the structure of the roof. When the temperature drops at night, this water freezes and is then thawed by the heat of the building. This phenomenon is called ice damming and seriously harms the roof structure and shingles.

• It prevents damage to rain gutters by reducing the freeze-thaw activity in them. Left unchecked, this can seriously harm the rain gutters and can even lead to them leaking. Once this happens the rainwater can damage the whole building.

• It reduces the strain on the HVAC system. Proper Insulation means that the Heat Ventilation and Air Conditioning system of your building will have to work lesser. This significantly improves the efficiency and life of the HVAC system which can costs upwards of thousands of dollars to fix if it goes wrong.
• Soundproofing is also one of the chief benefits of proper attic insulation. Most of the sound entering the building does so through the roof and proper insulation can prevent excessive sound from entering the building making it quieter and hence more comfortable.

How to Properly Insulate an Attic?

You can, by all means, undertake the attic insulation of your building as a DIY project but that is not recommended. A lot of technical stuff is involved in it and if you have old worn-out insulation, there are chances of it being toxic and might need professionals to remove and replace it. However, here are the steps involved in installing Attic Insulation.

• Check the existing insulation to see whether or not it can serve the purpose and how important it is to get a new one. Together with a professional, you need to check whether it is intact or not and what is the overall condition of the whole thing. Look for damaged parts and areas that have holes or missing insulation. If the insulation is too worn to protect the building from the prevailing temperatures outside, it needs to be removed and replaced with a new one.
• Remove the existing insulation if it can no longer serve the purpose. Search the internet or get professional help to know how to safely remove the type of insulation your building already has.
• Choose the new insulation according to your building and the prevailing weather conditions. You can ask the professionals or insulation manufacturers to figure out what kind of insulation you need for your building.
• Follow the instructions of the insulation manufacturer to properly install it and pay heed to the safety precautions. Wear the recommended safety gear as the insulation often has harmful fibers and other components that can pose a major health hazard.

In Conclusion

Getting your attic properly insulated is paramount in making your building energy-efficient and comfortable. However, it is a technical job and is better left for the professional roof maintenance service providers. We have provided you the basic guideline for installing attic insulation, but you should consult a specialist of the field as the process is very technical and every building and every insulation project are unique. Special care needs to be taken if you have asbestos insulation in your attic as that can be very harmful to the health of those dealing with it because of asbestos is a carcinogenic agent.