Proper attic insulation is essential to keeping your home at a comfortable temperature year-round.
In winter, insulation keeps heat trapped inside your home. In summer, properly installed insulation allows air to circulate, ventilating your home and preventing overheating. A properly insulated attic can help decrease your electric bill by as much as 20%.
A properly performing roof takes more than just shingles. Your roof works as a system — proper attic insulation and a properly ventilated roof work together to keep your home cooler and more energy efficient.
Perfect Time to Re-Insulate
Having your attic inspected anytime is a great idea, but during a re-roofing project is the ideal time to add insulation. During a re-roofing project, a sheet of decking can be removed and the insulation machine hose inserted into the attic — assuring no mess inside your home.
How can you tell if your home needs more attic insulation? Go into the attic — if you can see the rafters, odds are you need more insulation. The DOE recommends the Oklahoma region be insulated to R-49 to R-60. To achieve R-60, you’ll need 19-20 inches of blown-in insulation.
How Does Attic Insulation Work?
Heat always moves towards cold, which is why heat tries to escape a home in winter and enter in summer. Fiberglass insulation works by trapping air within tiny pockets to resist the transfer of heat. The ability to resist heat transfer is measured by “R-Value” — the higher the R-value, the better the insulation’s performance.
Benefits of Proper Attic Insulation
Proper attic insulation can reduce energy used to heat a home, leading to lower energy bills.
By preventing energy loss through the surface that leaks the most heat — your roof — you can reduce carbon emissions cost-effectively.
Proper insulation prevents moisture and ice dams from building up on the roof, protecting shingles and helping them last longer.
GREENGUARD and GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certified — offering better indoor air quality. Owens Corning blown-in insulation can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over half a ton every year.
Attic Ventilation: Why It Matters
To properly ventilate an attic, you need two kinds of vents: intake vents at the eave (bringing outside air in) and exhaust vents (expelling hot air out). The rule of thumb is 50/50 intake to exhaust, though 60/40 with 60% intake is optimal.
The DOE recommends the 1/300 rule: 1 square foot of net free ventilation area for every 300 square feet of attic flooring space.
Common Ventilation Mistakes
Adding more than one type of exhaust vent is a very common mistake. For example, adding turbines (whirlybirds) along with ridge vent causes a ventilation short circuit — hot air exhausts halfway up the slope, leaving part of the attic improperly vented.
What Happens Without Proper Ventilation?
Deck sagging can occur after only a couple of years of inadequate ventilation, making the deck dangerous to walk on.
Condensation in plywood decking causes dry rot. Water condensing on nail heads causes rust, which can lead to hardware failures.
Mold, mildew, fungi, and spores can cause health problems and structural damage to your home.
Snow that melts and refreezes at the roof perimeter can back up under shingles and cause leaks. A Cold Roof Assembly with proper ventilation and insulation eliminates ice dams.
Attic Insulation Accessories
Owens Corning offers several accessories to make your insulation project even better: the Attic Stairway Insulator adds R-10 with durable insulation and reflective foil for stairway openings; Baffles keep soffit vent airflow unobstructed; and Recessed Light Covers allow insulation near non-IC-rated can lights while maintaining the required 3-inch clearance.
Ready to Improve Your Attic Insulation?
Contact Legend Roofs today. The best time to add insulation is during your next roofing project.