The attic is by far the most important area of your home to have insulated. We suggest homeowners make certain their attic is well insulated before insulating any other area of their home. All too often homeowners believe they have adequate insulation in their attic and in fact only have a small fraction of what they should have. Like many things in life, some people rather not know and just presume things are fine, all the while their heating and cooling bills are unreasonably high or they’re suffering with an uncomfortable home. Check your attic insulation!
Attic insulation works both during the summer and during the winter. In summer it reduces heat from coming into the home and in winter it holds heat from rising out. The result is a more comfortable home with lower energy bills year-round. For a better understanding of how insulation works, see our section How Insulation Works.
The attic can be insulated using rolled-in fiberglass, blown-in fiberglass or blown-in cellulose. Your choice, but we strongly feel the cellulose is the best insulation material to choose from. Cellulose is more effective, more efficient, longer-lasting and safer than fiberglass. For more information on materials, see our sections on Cellulose vs. Fiberglass, or our section on Blown vs. Rolls.
Many homeowners believe they have sufficient insulation already in their attic. Ideally, you want to have a performance rating of R-38. Cellulose develops an R-38 rating with approx. 10″ of thickness, while fiberglass requires up to 16″ in order to attain the same R-38 rating.