Save on your home heating and cooling energy bills

Were your heating bills high last winter? Or did you notice it cost more to run the air conditioner over this past summer? Is your house over ten years old?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes - you could realize much lower heating and cooling costs for years to come by adding some insulation in your attic. Many consumers find they save by adding insulation to the crawl space under their first level flooring as well.

One of the most cost-effective ways to make your home more comfortable year-round is to add insulation to your attic. Adding insulation to the attic is
relatively easy and very cost effective. To find out if you have enough attic
insulation, measure the thickness of the insulation. If it is less than 7 inches of fiber glass or rock wool or 6 inches of cellulose, you could probably benefit by adding more. Most U.S. homes should have between R-22 and R-49 insulation in the attic.

If your attic has enough insulation and your home still feels drafty and cold in the winter or too warm in the summer, chances are you need to add insulation to the exterior walls as well. This is a more expensive measure that usually requires a contractor, but it may be worth the cost if you live in a very hot or cold climate.

You may also need to add insulation to your crawl space. Either the walls or the floor above the crawl space should be insulated. Before you add any isulation you need to resuce or eliminate any air leaks into the area where you want to add insulation. If you have air leaking up through a ceiling fixture you'll need to caulk or tape up the leak before adding insulation up in the attic.

Warm air leaking into your home during the summer and out of your home during the winter can waste a lot of your energy dollars. One of the quickest dollar-saving tasks you can do is caulk, seal, and weatherstrip all seams, cracks, and openings to the outside. You can save as much as 10% on your heating and cooling bill by weatherproofing and reducing the air leaks in your home.

First, test your home for air tightness. On a windy day, hold a lit incense stick
next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weatherstripping.

• Caulk and weatherstrip doors and windows that leak air.

• Caulk and seal air leaks where plumbing, ducting, or electrical wiring penetrates through exterior walls, floors, ceilings, and soffits over cabinets.

• Install rubber gaskets behind outlet and switch plates on exterior walls.

• Look for dirty spots in your insulation, which often indicate holes where air leaks into and out of your house. You can seal the holes by stapling sheets of plastic over the holes and caulking the edges of the plastic.

• Install storm windows over single-pane windows or replace them with doublepane windows.

• When the fireplace is not in use, keep the flue damper tightly closed. A chimney is designed specifically for smoke to escape, so until you close it, warm air escapes—24 hours a day!

• For new construction, reduce exterior wall leaks by either installing house wrap, taping the joints of exterior sheathing, or comprehensively caulking and sealing the exterior walls.

Join the growing number of smart homeowners who implement alternative energy systems! .