Summer Home Insulation

Insulation is Not Just for Cold-Weather

The word “insulate” conjures up thoughts of barriers, padding, and protection… whether it’s the pink stuff in your walls or the biggest blanket on your bed.

In other words, we tend to think of the benefits of home insulation as an important wintertime matter.

But did you know that home insulation is critical to keeping your house comfortable during the summer months too?

A house without insulation is the last place you’d want to spend July. Your AC wouldn’t do you a whole lot of good without it.

Likewise, it’s also true that better home insulation in the summer means a better summertime experience indoors — cooler and more consistent temperatures, lower energy bills, and less overtime for your HVAC.

Let’s look at some of the benefits of home insulation in the summer and why (scientifically speaking) it matters.

The Law of Thermodynamics

There’s a lot we could say about the law of thermodynamics, but this is a blog article, not a textbook, and we aren’t here to put you to sleep.

For our purposes, there’s just one thing we want you to know about the law of thermodynamics: hot air chases cold air.

In the winter, when the hot air is inside your heated home, it wants to escape outside. That’s why your challenge in the winter months is keeping heated air indoors (which is where home insulation comes in).

Just the opposite is true in the summer: the hot air outside wants to get in. Much like ants, gnats, or us after a twenty-minute jog, hot air is desperate to get some A/C. How do you keep it out? You guessed it: insulation.

So you see, the benefits to home insulation aren’t about keeping your house warm. It’s about keeping it stable — with cool air inside during the summer and outside during the winter. All the benefits of home insulation in the summer are really summed up in this simple principle of science.

Why Are You Air Conditioning Your Back Yard?

While it’s true that hot air wants to get outside, it’s also true that air leaks will send your precious cool air right out the window (literally, sometimes), meaning you’re wasting expensive A/C energy.

Your garden doesn’t need to be air-conditioned. The lizards don’t mind the heat.

Sure, Colorado’s summers aren’t as intense as some other states’.

Anytime you send cool air outside, hot air will gladly take its place indoors.

That’s why when summer strikes, you want every penny of your energy bill to count. The benefits to home insulation can keep your air-conditioned air where it belongs.

A Stable Attic Temperature Benefits the Whole House

There are two attic-specific benefits of home insulation in the summer:

  • Attic insulation keeps the attic from overheating.
  • Attic insulation also prevents the warmer attic air from reaching the rest of your house. (Remember: warm air will always invade if you let it.)

Interior Wall Insulation Can Keep All Your Rooms Cool at the Same Time

Hot air is very good at finding vulnerable territory. If some of the rooms in your house are surrounded by well-insulated walls while other rooms aren’t, the hot air will find those rooms and build up there.

Are there rooms in your home that always seem warmer than others? It’s a good chance that inadequate insulation is the culprit — either in the walls or under the floors (or both).

That’s Not All: Insulating Your Ducts, Doors, Windows, and Garage Walls Will Help Too

Ducts often pass through attics, or even outdoor walls. When they do, if they aren’t insulated, cold air is going to escape. As mentioned earlier, the same thing can happen with any air leaks in your windows or doors.

Speaking of attics, garages are a lot like them. Insulation can reduce the temperature inside the garage and then, perhaps even more importantly, prevent that warm air from getting inside your house.

While some people choose to insulate the whole garage, we recommend starting with the wall that adjoins the living areas, as well as the floor of any room(s) above the garage.

You’ll maximize the benefits of home insulation in the summer by giving hot air fewer points of entry and denying cold air an opportunity to escape.

Schedule a Home Energy Audit in Denver or Fort Collins, CO

At REenergizeCO, we offer easy and affordable solutions for keeping your home’s indoor temperature cool, comfortable, and consistent throughout the summer (and all year long).

A good first step is simply to schedule a home energy audit with our team of experts. We can determine where and how your home is losing energy, and we’ll identify the most cost-effective ways to increase energy efficiency throughout the home.

Learn more about the benefits of a home energy audit in Denver, CO and contact our office to schedule yours today.