When the temperature skyrockets into triple digits, do your energy bills skyrocket, too? If you want to reduce your energy bills, but still want to keep your Clayton home comfortable, investing in spray foam insulation for your attic is one of the best moves you can make. If you do nothing else to your home, having insulation sprayed in your attic can still lead to a sharp decrease in how much it costs to heat and cool your home throughout the year.
Insulation is used to keep homes comfortable because it blocks radiant, convective, and conductive heat flow into and throughout your home.
- Conduction takes place when heat moves through materials, like the floor joists in your attic and the sheetrock in your ceiling.
- Convection is the heat moving through air or liquid. In your home, it’s when the heat rises up to your ceiling or cool air stays on your bottom floor while your upstairs area is warmer.
- Radiation is heat caused by sunlight or light waves heating up the home.
All three forms of heat transfer take place in your home’s attic, and without the proper insulation, that heat moves into your living areas, causing your air conditioner to run harder to keep your home cool. Spray foam insulation into the attic of your Clayton home will stop unwanted heat transfers all year long, saving you money on your bills and increasing the life of your HVAC unit.
What Exactly Is Spray Foam Insulation?
Spray foam is a newer material, especially compared to fiberglass and cellulose insulation. Liquid polyol and liquid isocyanate are two organic compounds used in plastics and polymers. When the two are mixed together, they react to create a foam that expands up to 60 times the size of the liquid, easily filling small, irregularly shaped crevices, gaps, and cracks, while also expanding to fill in between studs and just directly onto the walls.
By filling in gaps and coating the spaces on the walls and between the eaves of your attic, air and moisture are blocked while heat is unable to transfer via radiation or conduction. While the insulation is fairly rigid, the open cell spray foam we use is pliable and light enough to fill irregular-sized surfaces and move with your home as it shifts and settles over time.
Benefits of Attic Foam Insulation
The largest benefit of having attic spray foam insulation is an improvement in your home’s energy efficiency. Sealing air leaks and drafts and dramatically reducing how much heat enters your living areas from your attic keeps your HVAC unit from having to work so hard in the winter and summer.
Additional benefits include:
- Spray foam insulation is a “green” alternative to fiberglass
- Prevents mold and mildew growth in your attic by preventing moisture
- It’s sturdy enough to improve the structural integrity of your attic.
- Spray foam insulation does not attract insects and pests, unlike cellulose, which is a food source for insects.
- This type of insulation does not degrade or compress over time.
- It doesn’t create dust or allergens that will end up in your ductwork and cause breathing and allergy problems.
Insulation Effectiveness Based on R-Values
Each kind of insulation is scored with an R-value rating that shows how effective it is at blocking heat transference. The higher the R-value, the more effective that type of insulation is. For example, fiberglass batts is given an R-value of 3.5 and cellulose is given a value of 4.0. Our open-cell spray foam insulation has an R-value of 7.0, proving it does a much better job at stopping heat flow into and out of your attic.
How is Attic Spray Foam Insulation Installed?
First, we remove any old insulation from the attic, and once it’s empty, our experienced technicians will run a hose to your attic that connects the two containers of liquid. The techs spray the walls and eaves of your attic, and in some cases, they will do the flooring, too. The foam sticks to everything, including walls, masonry, and metal, and it expands to provide an airtight, moisture-resistant barrier.
The foam quickly dries once it’s finished expanding. Then, the techs trim off the excess and clean up any mess left over from the application. It’s a quick process generally, especially compared to laying rolls of fiberglass or cellulose insulation. However, due to the liquids involved, it must be installed by professionals.
Why Attic “Breathing” is a Myth
By using spray foam in your attic, all the open spaces where air and moisture can come through are blocked, including ventilation. That’s because ventilation in attics isn’t necessary when it’s properly sealed against air and moisture. Letting your attic “breathe” keeps air circulating and allows heat to escape in the summer and moisture from building up in the winter. However, if air and water don’t come in in the first place, it doesn’t need to escape.
Contact Us for Attic Spray Foam Insulation in Clayton.
Reach out to us today to learn more about our attic spray foam insulation can make your home more comfortable and energy-efficient. Call us at (919) 847-7072 or fill out our online form to schedule a no-obligation estimate today!
