4 Key Areas Where Your Home Insulation Should Be Checked Before Winter

Cold weather is here, whether you invited it or not. So the question is this: is your home prepared?

Proper home insulation can keep you warm, save you money, and prolong the life of your house. It can even help to keep your family safe from unwanted critters seeking shelter from the cold.

With just a little love and care, you can make sure your home is ready for the long winter months still ahead of us. Start by checking these four key areas for proper insulation:

The Attic

When your loved ones visit for the holidays, they knock on the front door. But when Jack Frost shows up in the winter, he’s more likely to try your attic — and if your insulation is lacking, he won’t need you to open any doors.

Attics are the perfect breeding grounds for an insulation nightmare.

You aren’t up there often, so you don’t have a strong sense of how effective the insulation is… and if mice, birds, squirrels, or a recent storm did any damage, you might have no idea.

Moreover, insulation settles over time. If it doesn’t settle correctly, it can leave empty corners, smaller cracks, or under-insulated areas of exposure.

Just as worrisome, inadequate ventilation in your attic can lead to a buildup of condensation and wreak havoc on your house.

Even if your attic insulation isn’t causing damage to the house, it can still leave you feeling a lot colder in the winter (and warmer in the summer) than you’d like — and that means higher energy bills all around.

Crawl Space

Crawl spaces are a perfect reminder that just because something is “out of sight, out of mind” doesn’t mean it’s out of the picture.

Improperly insulated crawl spaces can lead to mold, mildew, wood rot, and infestation. It can also drain your energy bill (without any enhanced home comfort to show for it).

Remember: when you walk around on the floor in your house, there isn’t just solid ground on the other side. There is a crawl space, and just like an attic, it needs to be properly insulated.

Do some rooms in your house feel colder than others? Are your feet freezing on the floor no matter how high you turn up the heat? There’s a good chance a crawl space insulation issue is to blame.

The Garage

How much insulation does your garage need this winter, and what kind? The answer depends on what kind of garage you have and what you use it for.

If any of the following are true of your garage, you’re likely going to feel the effects of improper garage insulation this winter:

• The garage is attached to your home.
• There is a finished room or living space above your garage.
• You use your garage for something other than storage (e.g. woodworking, mechanical work, etc.).
• You’ve had a pest or rodent concern in your garage in the past.
• You’re concerned about the impact of Denver’s cold weather on your vehicles or personal property.

The bottom line is this: if your garage is connected to your house (or you spend a lot of time there), insulating it is going to have a significant impact on your in-home comfort level this winter.

Fortunately, there are a lot of options for making your garage more comfortable and energy-efficient without breaking the bank.

Areas with Damaged Insulation

So far, we’ve talked about four key areas of insulation, and they’re all essential for making sure your house is ready for winter in Denver. But it’s also a good idea to check the entire house for missing or damaged insulation before the very worst of the winter arrives.

Insulation is hidden away, which means problems aren’t readily apparent. But problems are common. Insulation is vulnerable to all kinds of changes and disruptions over the course of a year, and the cost eventually shows up on your energy bill.

Make Sure Your House Is Ready for Winter: Schedule a Home Energy Audit

Take the guesswork out of your winter prep. Call REenergizeCO and schedule a home energy audit. We’ll help you determine whether you need any improvement in your insulation and, if so, give you the choice of how you’d like to proceed. We have a variety of services available at different price points, all of them designed to improve your home’s comfort level while lowering your monthly energy bill.

There are no obligations whatsoever, and the process is easy. With just a few pieces of equipment and only a little bit of your time, we can conduct a comprehensive home energy audit with Denver’s winter season in mind. There are no obligations to hire us after the audit is over, so don’t delay.

Learn more about a home energy audit in Denver, CO or contact our office to schedule yours today.