Don’t wait until hot or freezing weather to make sure your home is energy efficient. You may be eligible to get a Federal Tax Credit for making qualifying efficiency upgrades to your home (see details).
The benefits of an energy efficient home include:
- Reduced utility bills
- A more comfortable home with hot and cold spots eliminated
- Reduction of your home’s carbon footprint by using less carbon based energy sources
Doing a little homework will increase your results. Conduct an energy audit, or enlist the help of a professional energy auditor. Here are a few things to look for:
- If you can see floor joists in the attic, you need to add more insulation.
- If you can see daylight around a door or window, there’s an air leak.
- Run a damp hand along the edges of windows and doors. If there is a draft, it will feel cool to your hand.
- Look for dirty paint at the edges of your outlets on exterior walls – they may need sealing.
- Look for dirty carpet along the baseboards of your exterior walls – you may need to seal the drywall to your sub-floor.
Insulation is the most important addition to a home for improving comfort and savings. Homeowners have options in the type of insulation that would be best in solving the problem: fiberglass batt insulation, blown-in insulation or spray foam insulation. The key areas to focus on are:
- Unfinished basements which can contribute to one-third of a home’s heat loss.
- The attic: If the home is more than 30 years old, it is likely it is substantially below current code recommendations for energy-efficiency.
- Add insulation to exterior walls. Consult a contractor to drill small holes in the stud cavity and add blown-in insulation.
- Use insulation backed siding when re-siding your home.
Emmons Roofing & Siding can handle all of your insulation needs. Contact us today for a free estimate!
