Checking Insulation Levels in Your House

While most homeowners know that insulation is a good thing to have, they may not know how much insulation they actually need. Many homeowners go with “however much is up there” and hope for the best.

However, having the proper insulation level is important both for your family’s comfort and for energy savings. Although there are specific calculations you can do to determine the exact insulation level you need, there’s also a simple test you can do just by taking a quick trip up to your attic and a look inside your walls.

Attic Insulation Level

Depending on your attic setup, you may need a ladder, a flashlight, and/or a board to use as a walkway over the joists. Be sure not to walk on the actual insulation or on ceiling drywall or you may find yourself falling through the ceiling.

Once you’re up in your attic, you want to look at several different spots to get a good feel for your insulation levels throughout the attic. In particular, the insulation in the eaves should be as high as in the rest of the attic.

Here’s what you are looking for: the insulation level should be higher than the joists. If it’s at or below the top of the joist, you should consider adding more insulation.

Wall Insulation

Insulation in your exterior walls can significantly improve your home’s energy efficiency. But how can you tell if you’ve got insulation? There’s an easy test for that, too, as long as you have an outlet on the inside of the exterior wall. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Turn off power to the outlet(s) you’ll be checking.
2. Take off the outlet cover.
3. Look around the edges of the outlet box, using a flashlight if necessary. If you have insulation, you should be able to see it.

What Next?

If you determine that you need more insulation or have questions about what types of insulation you should be using, contact your HVAC professional.

For help evaluating your insulation level and any other HVAC concerns in your Coastal Bend area home, contact CCAC today.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Corpus Christi, Texas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 361-678-2495.

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