Insulation Needs and Maintenance

Once you have laid in insulation in your home, you can be sure that the energy and heating bills will lower. Nonetheless, having a low energy and heating bill can turn out to be a fleeting dream if you do not pay attention and keep your insulation in its top notch state.

Like anything else around your home, insulation IS another thing that you need to supervise and make sure that it has proper maintenance. Otherwise, it can decay and stop functioning for what it is that was intended.

Most insulation are weather resistant, but this does not mean that they are indestructible. The exposure to the elements themselves will corrode and cause decay in the structure of the insulation. The decay of the insulation you have in your home will, in turn translate in a financial leak or in potential hazards for your health or even in both.

In the case of those insulation systems that are set up to endure a flooding, the failure of maintenance and/or repair or replacement can also cause you the loss of the entire household.

What to look for when supervising the state of the insulation?

If you are a do-it-yourself kind of person or if you hire a professional insulation service the things that need to be looked for are:

• Evident wear and tear
• Signs of Cracking of the surface
• Cracks that are wider than a hair and cracks that either go straight up or straight horizontally are to be looked for.
• Evidence of hot sports on high-temperature systems, this includes but is not limited to, burn signals.
• Evidence of condensation, ice buildup, and mold in cold or wet temperature systems.

If you see any of these signs, the best way to proceed is to remove the entire insulation and replace it. Consider that, if you remove only one part of the insulation, then you will have a “new” spec while the rest of it is old and decaying due to time and exposure.

In this, as with most of the things in your home that are related to your finance, health and life it is not wise to “cut corners”.

Furthermore, if replacement is in order, consider that this is the time to upgrade for a better or more suitable insulation. In addition to this, it is also important for this to be done in the same manner as the original installation. However, it is important to consider the origin of the damage for the insulation. If this damage is originated by a crack or any other structural damage, it is important to take care of this damage before re-insulation happens.

Can I use leftover insulation supplies?

This is a constant question from our do-it-yourself clients. We do not recommend the use of “leftover” insulation materials as these materials are not properly stored and more often than not they themselves are exposed to the same weather the insulation.

This causes that the leftover insulation is just as decayed as the insulation that is going to be removed.

If you are not sure how to choose the new insulation or you believe that you could upgrade it to a better one, call us. Our experts are waiting to assist you in the selection process.