- October 19, 2013
- in Green Tips
- by marcos
- 666
- 0
Here’s to you, INSULATION PROFESSIONAL. The month of February is dedicated to you.
“Thanks for making our home quieter, warmer and noticeably more comfortable.”
~If you have a local story about the difference insulation has made in your home or apartment, email us today so that we can share your story. You can title it: Insulation Matters.
Approximately 6 months ago, we decided to call our favorite contractor to complete a project we’d been contemplating for years. We bought our home in 2005, during the upswing in prices and slowly but surely we have been improving the value. Yes, there is a difference between price and value. Price is what you pay for something and value is what you get out of something.
Our project was to build a 24×26 attached garage. We added a bonus room above the garage due to our delightful Contractor’s encouragement. He explained that we were already paying for the most expensive materials (concrete floor and roof) so why not add the interior space above the garage for a fun room. Conforming with our originally construction type, it is stick frame. We did choose to upgrade the structure to 2×6 instead of 2×4 for the additional support and insulation space. This was important to us as we’d heard that bonus rooms over garages can be very cold if not properly sealed and insulated. We found this out right after the shell of the building was completed. The bonus room was freezing. Seriously, the inside of the room was colder than the outside. You could not only see your breath in the room, it practically froze in mid-air, I’m not kidding. It was really obvious to us at this point in time just how “key” insulation is between the inside and the outside.
We are devoting the Month of February to Insulation. It’s our version of “Coats for Kids” but we’ll call it “Coats for homes” Campaign.
Did you know that the average age of a home in Spokane, Washington is 45 years old? Do you think it might be time to consider how well the coat on your home is performing?
We’ve all heard that 50%-70% of the energy used in the average home goes towards the comfort level of the environment. How Cold or Hot we like it and what it takes to sustain that comfort level.
Insufficient insulation and air leakage in the building envelope can have a dramatic impact on the ability for our home to sustain a cool or warm environment thus affecting our comfort level.
At this point in the blog ~ let me introduce, Mr. Ron Jemison with Big R Insulation. Ron was referred to me by our drywall contractor. Ron has been an insulation contractor in our area for about 20 years and California for 10 years.
“Ron, how would you like to kick-off our insulation series?”
“Well Grace, We are talking about how to save Money on our homes power bills. As you know, I’ve been in this industry for 3 decades and over the years, I have seen a big increase in our power bills.
I have been able to help folks by coming into there home and doing an energy inspection to help them learn more about the home as far as performance utilization, ie; where they are losing energy out of the home.
One of the biggest losers is “The Attic” followed by “The Walls.” My goal is to have people begin to realize that your home can work for you or against you and currently there are a lot of homes in our area
working against the homeowner. We want to improve a homes performance by 30% to 50%. This equates to Dollar SAVINGS each and every month for the duration of their ownership.
That’s some serious money. The Annual Average Homeowners Utility bill is $ 720.00. The Estimated Savings is over $ 16,000.00 within the next 15 years for the Homeowner.
I could sure use an extra $ 16,000.00 in my bank account in the future ~ How about you?”