| A lot of people seem to just take it for granted | | | | energy audit. This will involve an experienced |
| that their home will have been well insulated during | | | | surveyor giving your house a thorough inspection, |
| construction. This sadly is often not the case. | | | | highlighting areas where you should increase you |
| There are several reasons why your home might | | | | level of insulation. The surveyor will then put |
| not be up to scratch in terms of insulation. The | | | | together a report that you can use as your |
| first is because the building contractor who built | | | | blueprint for planning future insulation projects. |
| your home may very well have cut corners and | | | | If you're not sure whether or not you need to |
| simple omitted the correct level of insulation in an | | | | commission a survey, then first carry out your |
| effort to save costs. Thankfully this practice is | | | | own preliminary inspection. Signs that you might |
| quite rare in homes built within the last ten years, | | | | have a problem, include sharp temperature |
| due to increased regulatory controls. | | | | changes once the heating has been turned off. A |
| The second reason your home may not be as | | | | well insulated house should maintain a steady |
| well insulated as you would like is not really the | | | | temperature for quite a while after the heat has |
| fault of the builder. In some states the building | | | | been turned off, and not feel cold within half an |
| codes are quite minimal in their insulation | | | | hour. |
| requirements. Putting in the absolute minimum | | | | An inspection of your attic should be carried out, |
| building code requirement level of insulation is not | | | | you should check to make sure that you have |
| recommended. I would always advocate using at | | | | between 10 and 15 inches of mineral wool evenly |
| least 20% to 30% more insulation depth, | | | | distributed over the floor of your attic. The key |
| particularly in the attic, the main rout for heat loss. | | | | here is to make sure there are no gaps or |
| If you suspect you may need to boost your | | | | patches in the insulation where heat can be |
| insulation, the simplest option is to commission a | | | | leaked. If this level of inspection throws up some |
| survey of the house. In the energy conscious | | | | warning signs, then it's well worth having a full |
| times we live in there should be plenty of | | | | survey done, if corners were cut in the attic, who |
| surveyors in your local area offering their | | | | knows where else you insulation might be |
| services. What you're after is an insulation or | | | | deficient. |