South Carolina’s mild weather can mislead you into thinking there’s little benefit in improving your home insulation. In truth, though, better insulation can keep you more comfortable and reduce your energy bills in both winter and summer.

Benefits of Ample Home Insulation

Most homes are built with only enough insulation to meet local building codes. This amount is rarely optimal, so adding more brings a number of improvements.

• Greater comfort – Sufficient insulation keeps your indoor temperatures more even and stable. You’re less likely to have areas that are hard to heat and cool, experience irritating temperature swings or feel cold drafts in winter. Wall and floor insulation keep these surfaces warmer in winter so you can sit near the walls or walk in slippers without getting chilled.
• Lower energy bills – In winter, insulation holds in warm air from your furnace and, in summer, it keeps out the sun’s heat. This maintains your indoor temperatures longer, reducing the load on the furnace and air conditioning. The system will use less energy to maintain your preferred temperatures, meaning lower bills for you.
• A quieter home – Insulation holds back sound, as well as heat. Better insulation means you won’t have to put up with as much noise from nearby streets and neighboring homes.

Where to Add Insulation

Because the attic has so much influence on your home’s temperatures, it’s one of the first places to consider adding insulation. In South Carolina, you’ll see benefits by increasing your attic insulation up to R-60, around 16 inches of fiberglass batts.

Assessing insulation in the walls and floors is trickier, but an air conditioning technician can do this as part of an energy evaluation. The technician will take infrared images of your home that show areas of excess heat loss or gain that can be improved with more insulation.

Learn more about assessing or improving your home insulation, as well as Cool Care Heating & Air’s air conditioning solutions, or contact us at (803) 772-7715.

Image Provided by Shutterstock.com