Insulation isn’t only a benefit for your Central Pennsylvania home in the middle of winter—it’s just as effective at keeping the heat out of your York or Harrisburg house when the sun’s beating down in the middle of June, July, or August.
If your home gets really hot in the summer, poor insulation levels could be to blame. If you’re thinking of upgrading your insulation to keep your home cool, you might be wondering: What parts of my house should I insulate to protect me from the summer weather? Here are three of the most important places to start.
1. Attic Insulation
Attic insulation is one of the most crucial areas of your home to insulate. In the summer, your roof is likely bearing the brunt of the summer sun, and heat is moving through your shingles and the building materials that make up your roof and into your attic.
Attic insulation helps in the summer by preventing that heat from making its way into the living spaces of your home. Plus, if you have air conditioning, you’ll need to run it less often to keep your home cool, lowering your electric bill and saving you money.
2. Exterior Wall Insulation
Exterior walls likely make up the largest surface area of your home that’s exposed to the sun, so it’s easy to understand why it’s important to protect this area from outdoor heat trying to get in.
Sidewall insulation can help create more even temperatures throughout your home. If you suffer from certain rooms in your house being hotter than others throughout the year, wall insulation can help! Insulation also offers soundproofing protection, so insulating your walls can create a quieter home.
3. Basement and/or Crawlspace Insulation
Homeowners often forget about the lowest parts of their houses, but home performance professionals don’t! Basement insulation or crawlspace encapsulation helps lower energy waste from your ductwork, and it can also play a significant role in reducing moisture and mold growth in your home.
Air sealing, an important “cousin” to insulation, is equally as important to improving energy efficiency, saving money, and keeping your home more comfortable. In the summer, hot air can enter through the very top of your house, pushing cooler air out of cracks and gaps in the basement or crawlspace. Insulating and air sealing (and some insulation types, like spray foam insulation, do both) improves energy efficiency and keeps your home cooler!
Schedule an Energy Audit and Find Out Where You Could Use New Home Insulation
So how do you find out where your house could use more insulation? An energy audit from the insulation specialists near you at Energy Smart Home Improvement will help you measure your home’s energy use. We use a variety of advanced diagnostic tools, like infrared cameras that can reveal exactly where heat is entering and exiting your home, or blower door tests which are used to locate the source of air leaks.
Using the results of your audit, you can schedule the home performance work and insulation upgrades to solve the specific issues in your home. Homeowners reach out to Energy Smart for solutions to hot houses that are uncomfortable and expensive to keep cool in the summer—tell us more about your home today!