Staying Warm this New Year

Insulation is an often over-looked area in your home that can add to your energy savings. Homes built over ten years ago were not insulated to the levels they are today. How will adding insulation to your home save money? Insulation keeps the heat (or air-conditioning) in your home for much longer by preventing it from leaking out through walls, ceilings or cracks. Having too little insulation in your home is equivalent to running the air conditioner in your car with the windows open! 

Interested in insulation now? Great! However, that does not mean you need to start fresh and rip out your old insulation. If your main interest is turning your home green, this is especially important. Insulation does not pull out neatly in one sheet. It can be a messy process and will only add to a landfill somewhere - not very environmentally friendly. Of course there are circumstances when removing your insulation is the correct option. Fire damaged, water damaged or rodent/insect infested insulation should be removed for health reasons. Often if there is rodent damage it does not affect an entire wall or room. It only affects certain spots such as near the furnace. In these cases, only the damaged portion needs to be removed.

At this point if you plan on insulating more than just your attic, you may be wondering "Where else do I put the insulation?" There are many other areas insulation needs to be placed. In finished attics there are commonly knee walls. Knee walls are generally uninsulated spaces located behind a vertical wall in a finished attic. Another easily overlooked area in a home are ducts. Ducts are generally made of very thin metal.  If your basement or attic is not finished, your heating and cooling can be leaking out. You may be losing 10%-30% of the energy to heat your home through these uninsulated ducts. Other areas that should be insulated include ceilings, exterior walls, the floors above unheated garages, and the basement. When there is a lack of insulation the heating and cooling system in the home needs to overcompensate for lost energy. Your furnace or air-conditioning system works longer and harder when it needs to condition additional air. This is what leads to more expensive energy bills.

When beginning to research and consider having new insulation installed, there is a term that will be seen a lot. This term is "R-Value." R-Values measure the amount of thermal resistance in insulation. Thermal resistance is the difference of temperature when 'heat' energy flows through an object. The higher the R-value the less heat loss. This, however, should not be the sole decision maker when choosing a type of insulation. Blown-in or foam-in insulation may have a lower R-Value but is optimal when trying to fill in small areas around wiring or windows. The contractor you hire will be able to assess the current insulation in your home and decide what will provide you with the most effective energy-saving option. 

No matter what kind of insulation you choose to update your home with, you will certainly end up saving money on energy costs. Don't let your energy bill be higher than it needs to be. Turning your home "green" and making it an energy-conserving machine can be possible when you team up with trained and experienced contractors.

If you are located in either Central or Northern New Jersey and interested in having your insulation situation assessed you can contact NJ Home Energy Solutions.

Energy-Efficiency and Historic Homes

Historic Homes are beautiful and often worthy of restoration. In the process, there are significant opportunities to improve the energy performance of the building. There is so much cost in the aesthetic and cosmetic details that taking care of the infrastructure before the details are finished is wise because it is impossible once the cost for the finished work is laid out. Before you start the process consult a BPI certified building analyst on how to improve your building’s performance forever.

Cellulose vs. Spray Polyurethane Foam Insulation

Cellulose is the preferred product for insulating wall cavities of existing homes. When installed with the dense-pack method, settling in wall cavities is negligible and air flow in wall cavities is reduced significantly. It performs very close to its stated R value unlike fiberglass' performance which is affected greatly by the precise fit of the batts in their cavity.

Cellulose insulation is also great for loose fill or open-blown attic applications. When installed at proper depth it creates a continuous blanket of insulation which eliminates loss resulting from the poor R value of timber framing members (thermal bridging).

Noise reduction is also done well with cellulose, achieved in three ways. The first is that cellulose completely fills cavities leaving few air pockets for sound to travel in. The second is the cellulose materials ability to trap air. The significant difference between noise reduction with cellulose and fiberglass is its density. Cellulose is approximately three times denser then fiberglass. This helps deaden the sound through walls and between floor levels.

Spray Polyurethane Foam is an incredible insulation product that has gained significant momentum in the high-end and high performance home industry. Closed cell spray foams have typical R values of 6-7 per inch of material, making them the most potent when space it at a premium. Like dense-packed cellulose, SPF also has incredible advantages in reducing air movement in structures. It is an effective way to tighten the building envelope significantly during new construction.

SPF is great for use in wall cavities of new construction and also on the roof decks of existing or new buildings. Roof-deck application is done between the rafters of your roof assembly, usually sprayed directly onto the sheathing of the roof. Coupled with sealing off soffit and ridge vents as well as gable walls, we create a sealed attic. Sealed to the outside the attic breathes only to the house and will maintain a temperature much closer to the conditioned living space of your home in any season. It is a complete cap on your building and one of the most effective at eliminating the path for warm air rising and escaping from your home.

Not sure which type of insulation is right for your home? Contact NJ Home Energy Solutions - the insulation specialists.

Insulation - Cellulose Insulation - Spray Polyurethane Foam Insulation - Air Sealing - Drafts - Heating Systems - Cooling Systems - Hot Water - Ventilation - Simple Ventilation - Simple Air Exchanger - HRV - ERV - Heat Recovery Exchanger - HVAC

What is a Home Energy Audit?

When beginning the task of greening your home, you will very quickly come across the term home energy audit. What exactly does that mean? An energy audit is an evaluation of how much energy your home or building uses. 

An audit consists of four major parts:

1. Interview - This interview can occur over the phone or in person. You will be asked about your utility bills and energy habits. 

2. Testing - Testing allows the energy specialist to see where the problem areas are in your home. What is tested? 

• Air Leakage
• Ventilation
• Water Flow
• Heating and Cooling Systems
• Air Quality

3. Observation - This is an important step in ensuring nothing has been overlooked in the home.

4. Report - The energy specialist creates a report that will allow you to see the many options there are to save energy in your home.

Ready to take the first step? New Jersey Home Energy Solutions is committed to providing a thorough evaluation of the energy usage in your home. 

Call 908.227.4182 today!