Category Archives: General News

Long-Term Planning: Insulation During Spring Reduces Cooling Costs in Summer

Residents of Kansas City always look forward to springtime. The fresh air is a welcome delight after months of chilly days and bundled up nights. The locals gear up for festival season, St. Patrick’s Day, and the Brookside Art Annual which are all citywide celebrations that pump up people of all ages. Of course, the spring season also brings back the Kansas City Royals, our boys in blue, to the baseball park.

As much time as KC locals spend outdoors, however, it also pays to be more attentive to what goes on at home during the transition season from the coldest to the warmest days of the year. When you plan your springtime activities, include home renovations and preventive maintenance on your list. The changing weather affects the utilities that keep you comfortable all year round despite the weather, after all.

Having said that, maybe it is time to install or replace the attic insulation in your Kansas home this spring.

Why Is Attic Insulation Important?

Many homes in the local community do not have attic insulation. This is unfortunate, considering how attic insulation serves as a consistent source of comfort for the household. It keeps heated air inside during winter and keeps the home cool during summer. In other words, it keeps your family warm during cold days and helps regulate indoor temperature on humid ones.

Moreover, attic insulation is a wise decision because it helps homeowners save on energy bills. Our team has actually seen first-hand how attic insulation helps cut down energy costs at home, especially during the warmest months of the year when people tend to turn up the AC.

Heat travels through the ceiling and may escape or enter the home through gaps or leaks in your attic. So, if the attic has proper insulation, then it will make the home more energy efficient in addition to making it more comfortable for the household.

But of course, for optimal energy saving, you need the help of a professional to ensure the even distribution of the insulation. Alternatively, if you already have attic insulation, a professional can check insulation levels to determine whether you need a more effective replacement.

Professional attic insulation also addresses other problems such as leaky roofing, fire hazards, and limited ventilation.

Why is Spring a Great Time for Attic Insulation?

Spring is a great time to install or replace attic insulation. Your household may have exhausted the HVAC system throughout the winter, so now’s a great time to let it recover and direct your attention to the insulation. Furthermore, spring installation also prepares you for the warm, humid weather that summer is sure to bring. This way, you wouldn’t spend so much on home cooling costs in the future.

Keep in mind, though, that the level of insulation your attic should have depends on your location as well as on what product you use for it. But generally speaking, homes in the KC metro may have insulation of at least R-49, which is approximately 18.5 inches deep, to effectively reduce energy costs.

At A+ Insulation, we offer various solutions for attic insulation in Kansas City. You may choose among InsulSafe SP, cellulose, spray foam, and batted insulation. Call our office, today, for a free no-obligation evaluation before summer comes along.

Insulating Your 1960 Home? Best Types of Insulation for Old Homes

Warm, cozy, and full of character, you love your 1960 home.

As much as you love your decades-old abode, however, it tends to get drafty. In winter, the cold draft can get so bad that you’re beginning to see adverse effects on the health and comfort of your family. On days when it’s extra cold, moreover, your heating system has to work harder, costing you more in maintenance and replacement expenses down the road.

If you’re tired of putting up with drafty air and compromising your comfort, your most viable option is adding insulation. Insulating an old home not only makes the space more livable and energy-efficient but also helps preserve the house’s beauty and historical significance. If you decide on selling the home in the future, up-to-date insulation can give you a strong selling point.

Things to Consider Before Installing Insulation

While there are many benefits to adding insulation to old houses, it’s not exactly an easy task. If your home was built before the 1960s, chances are, there is very little insulation to none at all. Before the energy crisis happened in the 1970s, energy was cheap and abundant that it was more cost-effective to heat homes than to insulate them.

Today, it has become more cost-effective to insulate a home. There are myriad options as far as materials are concerned. Experts agree that among these materials, batts and blow-in cellulose are the easiest to retrofit into an old home. Many insulation contractors also prefer installing spray foam insulation, as this works well in regulating air flow, controlling moisture, and insulating while maintaining a high R-value (the material’s capacity to resist heat flow).

Depending on your home’s age, potentially dangerous products may have been used in the installation. A professional insulation contractor should be able to detect urea formaldehyde or asbestos, as the presence of these materials may entail remediation.

Where Do You Add Insulation?

It’s often easiest to add insulation to the attic area. If your attic is unfinished and unconditioned like many old homes, adding batt insulation to the underside of the roof is a smart move.

If the home has a basement or crawl space, you may also opt to insulate the floors of the living space above. Insulation contractors prefer to do this by installing batts into the floor joists’ stud bays.

Onboarding experts to assess the entire home should be your first step. A pro can accurately evaluate the scope of insulation, the severity of air leakage, as well as your options for re-insulation. They can also give advice or two in the areas of the home that will provide the most payback when insulated.

When in need of experienced professionals who can help you add insulation to an old home, turn to A+ Insulation. We have been the authority in batt, cellulose, spray foam and blanket insulation in Kansas City since 2004. We are prepared to add insulation to any part of the home from the walls to the attic, basement, and more.

Talk to one of our consultants about the most viable options for your home. Call us at 913-281-2250 or fill out our form today.

Addressing Skin Irritation and Other Health Risks of Pink Fiberglass Insulation

American households are no stranger to pink fiberglass insulation. Many homes have thick rolls of the material in their attic. In fact, at some point, it was the most popular choice for insulation.

Made from extremely fine woven glass, fiberglass traps air to slow down the spread of heat or cold in a structure. It poses a minimal fire hazard and, according to the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, its thermal insulation may reduce residential energy costs by up to 40%. As such, it is a frequently used material for residential property insulation.

Pink fiberglass insulation effectively keeps homes warm in the winter and cool during the summer. But it does not come without a price. The material could trigger asthma, bronchitis, and eye irritation. Moreover, it could cause itchiness and skin irritation.

Get Familiar with the Risks of Fiberglass Insulation

Pink fiberglass insulation, consisting of extremely fine glass fibers, comes in different forms. Most commonly, it comes in the form of blankets and loose-fill.

The former, which may either be fiberglass batts or rolls, are attachable to walls for stability. The latter, which may contain 20% to 30% recycled glass content, are applicable to both open-blow applications (i.e. attic paces) and closed-cavity applications (i.e. wall interiors and floor cavities).

The material may also come in the form of rigid boards and duct insulation. But regardless of which type is most suitable for your application — and how functional it is — fiberglass insulation comes with certain health risks.

Fiberglass insulation, when disturbed, has the tendency to release small particles or fibers in the air. The people exposed to it may inhale the material’s particles during installation or removal, resulting in respiratory complications. Their skin may also come in contact with the particles, resulting in itchiness and irritation.

Respiratory Ailments

No matter how long you’ve been using pink fiberglass insulation, you still need to be careful when handling them. Inhaling fiberglass particles may trigger reactions from your respiratory system. It may lead to nose bleeds and severe coughing. It may aggravate asthma or bronchitis, too, if you are prone to either condition.

Much like wood and metal, it does not easily break down. As such, inhaling fiberglass particles may cause further damage to your lungs and the rest of your respiratory system.

Eye Irritation

Inhaling fiberglass particles may cause respiratory ailments, but the health risks do not stop there. Particles may break free from the material and get in your eye. This causes immediate effects such as eye irritation and inflammation.

Much like when other foreign particles get in your eye, fiberglass particles may cause severe or permanent eye damage, when not addressed correctly and immediately.

Skin Irritation

The most common health risk of fiberglass insulation is skin irritation. This occurs when your skin gets in contact with fiberglass particles, resulting in itchiness and skin rashes.

Particles may come in contact with your skin and trigger allergies, especially if you have sensitive skin. They may lodge into your pores and cause skin dryness. Either way, you may end up with irritated skin, itchiness, and red rashes for days to come.

Exposure to fiberglass could happen during renovation for your home or when you visit a friend whose home is under construction.

Remedies After Exposure

You’ll want to protect yourself when you expect to be around renovation or construction. Appropriate clothing such as long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and gloves. This reduces the risk of itchiness and skin irritation that occurs when the skin accidentally comes in contact with fiberglass particles.

While you’re at it, wear a face mask to avoid inhaling fiberglass particles and protective goggles to prevent them from getting into your eye.

But once you’re exposed to fiberglass, you can reduce its impact through a couple of ways.

Use Baby Powder

Rub baby powder on exposed areas such as the neck and your wrists, areas where there may be gaps in protective clothing, to avoid itchiness. In case baby powder is not available, you may use corn starch or plain talc powder as a substitute.

Shower Twice

Despite protective clothing and a sprinkle of baby powder, fiberglass particles may still linger. As such, you might want to shower twice.

First, take a cold shower to rinse off any particles. The cold keeps your pores closed, so you no longer have to worry about fiberglass seeping into your skin. Afterward, take a hot shower to open up your pores and make it easier for you to get rid of any particles that may have slipped through the previous precautionary measures.

The man-made mineral fiber is useful for residential and commercial applications. But because it is an irritant, you need to be careful around the material. And until more studies are conclusive about its health effects, it’s better to trust its installation or removal to a professional.

Go for Professional Installation

Working with a professional team will mean getting reasonable rates for the services of licensed and insured insulation contractors. It means having the insulation up and working within a convenient schedule and your required timeframe. Licensed installers not only get the job done quickly but safely, too.

Professional installers have sufficient education and experience to know what type of insulation works best for your home. They can provide industry-leading fiberglass insulation that offers ample coverage while reducing your home’s energy demand and costs. They can also ensure that the insulation will not retain moisture leading to mold or fungus growth.

A+ Insulation has the experience and knowledge to ensure professional insulation installation that improves your comfort and your safety.

Our trained and experienced team will handle your fiberglass installation needs, using high-grade materials that do not compromise your health and budget. We not only ensure your home is energy efficient and comfortable all year round, we also keep our work neat. We cover everything with plastic to keep your home clean while we install.

We are licensed and insured, and well prepared to take on any insulation job.

Get professional advice and experience professional service that combines safety and efficiency. Call us today for your insulation needs.

A+ Quality in Every Insulation Installation

Insulation is seldom discussed but is crucial to the well-being, comfort, and protection of a family. Often, the original insulation installed will last for many years. But sometimes, problems happen, such as:

Older homes that have insulation that is hazardous to the family’s health.
Leaks in the roof of the house have damaged the existing insulation.
There are times when the insulation material is not compatible with modern electrical lighting in the ceiling it is covering.
Some builders have erroneously vented exhausts to the attic space. Humid exhaust air gets trapped in your insulation, thereby ruining it.
The insulation installation was inadequate
Owners may want to use the attic for storage or an extra room.
According to many experts, any home over five years old needs to have its insulation evaluated.

So, at some time or another, you are going to need to insulate your home. And at A+ Insulation, we make sure our customers know exactly what to expect if they need new insulation.

With our 14-Step Installation Process, you will understand how long the installation will take, how we protect your home, how much it will cost, what to expect, and why we include so much in the process. We tell you up-front so there are no surprises, no inconveniences, and no unknowns. You can relax with A+ because we will keep you informed.

A Breakdown of Our 14-Point Installation Process:

Initial Contact – First, call or email us and we will set an appointment to inspect your home.
Free, In-Home, No-Obligation, Inspection – We tell you where and how much insulation you will need.
Free Estimate – We provide a free, upfront estimate before any work begins so you never get a surprise bill with add-ons or extras you were not expecting.
Free Home Energy Evaluation – The home energy evaluation helps us see where your home is leaking energy so we know exactly which problem areas to fix.
Pre-Installation Walk-Through – Before we begin working, we take you on a walk through the project area to explain where and why insulation is necessary.
Scheduling – We set a date that fits your schedule.
Job Length Estimation – After assessing the project, we give you a time estimate of how long we will be in your home from start to cleanup.
Project Debris – We take special care to protect your home and your family from any contact with our insulation materials or our equipment. We want your home to look perfect when we leave.
Installation – We not only install the insulation, but we go the extra mile to seal all leaks where air can escape.
Post-Installation Walk-Through – A+ wants to leave its customers completely satisfied with the job. When the project concludes, we show you our work so you know we did exactly what we said we would do.
Before & After Photos – To make sure there is no doubt about our completed project, we provide photographic evidence that shows attics and crawl spaces, which would otherwise be hard to see, insulated completely and correctly.
Cleanup – We always leave your home as clean as we found it.
Final Payment – Once we are positive you are completely satisfied with our work, we accept final payment.
Comfort Assurance – We leave you comfortable with the job, with the price, and with our company. We also leave you in the comfort of your well-insulated home.

Quality in Every Insulation Installation

A+ does not want its customers to have any surprises when it comes to their home insulation process. Nothing is worse than contracting with a company that does not live up to its promises and the owner’s expectations. That will not happen with A+. The most important issue for us is that your home insulation is up to or even better than all local building codes for your area. Since 90% of homes in the U.S. are under-insulated, yours could very well be one of them. And, oh yes, one more thing; the proper insulation will make a noticeable difference in your heating and cooling bills. Let us know if need our assistance.

If you’d like to save money on your energy bills, give A+ Insulation a call at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511 or contact us online.

Compare before you hire. Use this handy list to know which questions to ask when comparing insulation companies. Download by clicking on the image below:

Make Your Home Energy Efficient This Summer

Air conditioning season can be brutal on your budget. Energy bills soar and it makes you start to question everything about your home. Is your air conditioner losing efficiency? Does your home need more insulation? Should you invest in new, energy-efficient windows? The team at A+ took a look at all of your options.

Look at Investment Vs. Savings

It’s a struggle to know which decision is the right one. At A+ Insulation, we see homeowners struggle with energy issues year round, especially when the temperatures soar or dip into the extremes. Naturally, we’d like to sell you some insulation. That is our business, after all. But when looking at high energy bills, many homeowners consider the energy savings before making a decision to purchase, but it’s the investment cost that you should be looking at. Let us break it down for you.

The Top Three Ways to Significantly Reduce Your Energy Bills

If you want to significantly reduce your energy bills, you have three main choices:

New Replacement Windows
New, High-Efficiency Air Conditioner
Add Insulation

Let’s look at savings vs. investment with numbers we found on the internet:

Install New Replacement Windows

Windows are a source of 25% of a home’s heat loss.

Savings – According to the Energy Star website, installing ENERGY STAR qualified windows lowers energy bills. For a typical home, save: $126–$465 a year when replacing single-pane windows. $27–$111 a year when replacing double-pane, clear glass replacement windows.

Investment – According to Houselogic, the range for energy-efficient window pricing varies greatly, but Energy Star-qualified windows start around $120 for a 36-inch-by-72-inch, single-hung window and can go up to 10 times that. With labor, you’re looking at about $270 to $800+ per window.

Conclusion – Savings up to $465/yr vs. Minimum Investment $2,700 (for 10 windows).

Install a New Energy-Efficient Air Conditioner

Heating and cooling costs account for about half of your home’s energy expenses.

Savings – Using the Lennox energy savings calculator, and using Kansas as our geographic point, if you replaced your old (10 SEER) air conditioner with an energy efficient (15 SEER) air conditioner, you would save 33% on your home cooling bills

($375 over a 5-year period) which calculates to $75/yr.

Investment – According to HomeAdvisor, 2017 prices for new air conditioners range from $1,900 to $5,100.

Conclusion – Savings up to $75/yr vs. Minimum Investment $1,900.

Install Attic Insulation

Roughly 25% of a home’s heat seeps out through the attic and roof.

Savings – According to House Logic, adding insulation (based on boosting the amount of attic insulation from R-11 to R-49) can lower heating and cooling costs by as much as $600/yr.

Investment – Using the same source, depending on the type of materials you choose, figure on paying about $1,500 to insulate an 800-square-foot attic, which pays back your investment in three years.

Conclusion – Savings up to $600/yr vs. Minimum Investment $1,500.

Savings Vs. Investment Makes It Clear – Insulation Is the Smart Choice

So the bottom line is, if you’re looking for energy savings, but you’re not ready to drop thousands on a new heating and cooling system or new replacement windows, adding insulation is the obvious choice. Insulation is the lowest monetary investment that yields that greatest energy savings.

If you’d like to save about $600 a year on your energy bills and be more comfortable in your home, give A+ Insulation a call at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511 or contact us online to schedule your insulation installation appointment.

9 Signs Your Home Is Under-Insulated

When it comes to insulation, chances are your home may not have enough. Unless you’ve added extra insulation when building your home, or added insulation to the home you bought or renovated, there’s a 9 in 10 chance that it doesn’t have enough. NAIMA (North American Insulation Manufacturers Association) reports that 90% of homes in the U.S. are under insulated.

Why is this? Think about the housing industry. Home builders install the minimum amount of insulation required by code. Why would they install more? The more they install, the more money each house costs to build. We know, from being in the insulation industry for years, that the amount required by code is not enough to keep your home comfortable and save you money on energy bills.

Look for These 9 Signs That Your Home Is Under-Insulated

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 42% of a homeowner’s utility bill is spent on heating and cooling costs. That number goes up drastically when a home is poorly insulated. Without proper insulation the heated or cooled air, your heating and cooling system is working so hard to produce, escapes through the walls and attic. Proper insulation can cut those costs by an average of 20%! If your home lacks the proper amount of insulation, or if your insulation is installed incorrectly, you can do severe damage to both your home and your bank account. Here are nine ways you can tell if your home is under-insulated:

Fluctuating Temperatures
One sign of good insulation is having even temperatures throughout your home. If different rooms have different temperatures – say, you freeze in the kitchen but feel too warm in your living room – that’s a clear sign your house is under-insulated.

High Energy Bills
Look at your home’s energy bills in the last few years to determine if there are huge increases. The blown-in insulation in the attics and walls may have settled, making the insulation less effective and possibly leading to areas that are not protected from cold temperatures. You may not notice extreme temperature shifts in your home if your heating or cooling units are working overtime, but you will notice your extreme energy bill. If wasted heat is escaping through your roof and walls, it’s time to replace your insulation.

Cold Walls, Floors and Ceilings
Do the touch test. The interior ceilings, walls and floors in your home should feel warm and dry. When drywall and paneling inside a home feels damp or cold, there is not enough insulation. Alternatively, when touching an exterior wall, it should feel cold because insulation is keeping warm air inside a home.

Cold Rooms
Do you find that some rooms in your home are inexplicably colder or hotter than others no matter what you do? If those rooms are well ventilated, then the problem is probably poor insulation. These rooms are often above the garage or below the attic. That’s why it’s important to make sure all areas of your home are properly insulated. Heat and cool air can escape almost anywhere that doesn’t have insulation to stop its path.

Chilly Drafts
During the winter months, drafts in certain areas of a home are caused by cool air entering around window frames and doorways. By having extra insulation added to these areas, you and your family can avoid having to cope with chilly drafts. Adding insulation will not only make your home feel less drafty, it will also save you on energy bills. Spray foam insulation seals and insulates and is good for cracks and crevices.

Mice & Bugs in Your Home
There is nothing worse than finding insects and rodents in your home! Critters can enter through tiny crevices and holes around doorways and windows. Unfortunately, these openings are also how cold air enters and warm air escapes. By adding insulation you can save on energy bills while protecting your home from vermin invasions.

Water Leaks in the Attic
Just as poor insulation lets the heat out of your home, it also tends to let water in. Water has a much easier time finding its way into a poorly-insulated home than a well-insulated one. If you’re experiencing a leaky attic, your insulation may be part of the problem. Leaks are a sign that you should get your insulation replaced as soon as possible! Water damage can cause many costly problems down the road, including mold issues, so give leaks prompt attention. At A+ Insulation, we can handle all kinds of attic insulation problems.

Ice Dams on Your Roof
A sign of poor insulation that you may notice during a Kansas City winter, aside from soaring heating bills, are ice dams. Ice dams occur when heat (rising from your poorly-insulated home) melts the bottom layer of snow off of your roof. The melted water then trickles down towards your gutters and may begin to freeze once it hits the cooler air. The result is large chunks of ice and oversized icicles, called ice damming. It can wreak havoc on your roof and your gutter, not to mention it can turn into a safety hazard for those below.

Frozen Pipes
Frozen pipes in your walls are also huge indicators that you have an insulation problem. Proper insulation protects your home from damage caused by Kansas City’s freezing temperatures. Poorly insulated exterior walls can cause frozen pipes, which can burst. This can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage. Investing in crawl space insulation can also make a huge difference to your pipes as well.

More Important Energy Facts

Where does all the warm air go?

Roughly 25% of a home’s heat seeps out through the attic and roof.
A home can lose 35% of its heat through the walls.
Windows are a source of 25% of a home’s heat loss.
Remember, any gaps in insulation will allow heat to escape.

Insulation has a three times greater impact on the average home’s energy and comfort than windows or doors.

An energy audit will pinpoint the areas that are wasting the most energy

Get a free energy audit with A+ Insulation.

Contact us today to schedule your FREE energy audit!

Free Home Energy Evaluation, Why Wouldn’t You Have This Done?

The first oil crisis we faced over 35 years ago sent us scrambling to design more energy-efficient homes and plug the leaks in our existing homes. Despite everything we’ve learned over the last four decades, we continue to live in homes that leak energy.

Older Homes Aren’t Doomed to be Hopeless Energy Drains

There are many positive features of older homes that can potentially, if they don’t already, provide energy-saving qualities. For instance, tin roofs are popular in older homes and can be restored to help reflect solar heat and keep the house cool. The biggest concern for homeowners of older houses in relation to energy waste is air leakage, followed by improper insulation. A home energy evaluation allows homeowners to prioritize their energy-saving projects to receive an excellent return on their investment.

In an older home, the task of improving energy efficiency may seem daunting, so breaking it down into smaller projects is an effective strategy. The first step to reduce your energy costs is to identify the spots where your home is losing energy. If only a qualified professional technician would do this for free. Wait, A+ Insulation offers a free home energy evaluation? Why wouldn’t you have this done?

Your Walls are Leaking!

The thought of performing costly home maintenance typically scares homeowners from having a proper inspection done on their home. Putting off home energy evaluations as an attempt to avoid a potentially large bill is common, but also completely backwards. In fact, a home energy evaluation can save you money on your monthly energy bills! A+ Insulation is right here in Kansas City and can help homeowners see where energy, and their hard-earned money, is being wasted.

A Visual Inspection Reveals Energy Leaks

An energy assessment will determine where you require additional insulation and where you have leaks. As a homeowner, it’s beneficial to be aware of your home’s problem areas. When these areas are repaired or sealed it can make a huge difference to your home’s heating and cooling costs. The professionals from A+ Insulation will begin with a visual inspection of your walls.

Start from the Top of the House, Your Attic Needs Help!

The first place to look is the attic, because heat rises. On a cold day your house acts like a big chimney pulling heat through every gap and crevice in the floors and walls to the top of the house. The difference between the high pressure in the attic and the lower pressure outside drives the warm air through the roof, literally.

Taking care of your attic insulation can increase the energy efficiency of your home up to 40%.

This sets off a chain reaction where the low pressure near the foundation of your house attempts to balance by sucking in the cold, exterior air. The colder it is outside, the greater the pressure differentiation is inside the house, leading to increased heat loss. Those cool “drafts” you feel inside your home are an indication.

Where Exterior Walls Leak the Most

On the outside of your home, we’ll look for places where building materials join including:

Corners and areas where the chimney meets the siding
Water faucets and gas lines
Sections where the foundation meets the siding
Any point where an opening has been cut into the walls or doors because this is a great place for small gaps to form

Where Interior Walls Leak the Most

Inside your home, there are numerous opportunities for leaks to occur, such as:

Electrical outlets and switch plates
Window and door frames, weather stripping
Baseboards
Vents and mounted AC units
Fireplace dampers
Phone and cable TV lines
Gas and electrical service entrances
Dryer vents

Once You Find the Leaks, Close the Gaps!

Consider all the places in your home where the structure has been compromised in order to accommodate ducting, plumbing, wiring and fixtures. Each time a hole was cut through the ceiling or roof, a potential leak was created. These are relatively easy issues for insulation professionals to fix. A+ Insulation can help you choose the right materials and ensure you have the correct insulation in your walls. Remember, insulation is designed to slow down heat loss, not to stop airflow.

Once homeowners are aware of the potential improvements needed in their home’s insulation, they can plan accordingly to repair them. Not every household is set up financially to tackle costly home improvement projects at the drop of a hat. The benefit of having a home energy evaluation is using the knowledge and advice offered by our technician to make a plan for what to address first, second, etc.

In general, the most important areas for homeowners to make sure are properly insulated are attics and crawlspaces. By tackling these areas first, they are insuring the most bang for their buck.

A Home Energy Evaluation is Free!

The biggest thing for homeowners to remember about our home energy evaluations is that there is no cost for having them done. At A+ Insulation, our technicians will go through your home and determine what is insulated properly and what might need additional or replacement insulation. Your A+ Insulation technician will then give you an estimate to repair the problem areas. The best part about it? There are no strings attached.

If you’re interested in seeing how much your utility costs can be cut, click here or call (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511 to schedule an appointment with our technicians at A+ Insulation to get your Free Home Energy Evaluation!

Inside Your Insulation: Attic Insulation vs. Roof Insulation

For those not in the insulation field, the differences between attic insulation and roof insulation can be hard to distinguish. While both aim to better insulate your home and to reduce heating and cooling bills, there are a few things to know about these types of insulation installations.

Attic Insulation vs. Roof Insulation: What’s The Difference?

The biggest difference between these two types of insulation is where they are installed. Attic insulation is installed in the ceiling plane, while roof insulation is installed on the roof slope itself, above and below the rafters.

How Do I Know If I Need More of Either?

It’s easy to see if your home is lacking either of these types of insulation, throw on some gloves, grab your ruler, and simply measure the thickness of your insulation layer. The U.S. Department of Energy recommends adding more insulation if you measure less than 11 inches of rock wool or fiberglass, or less than 8 inches of cellulose.

Which is More Common to be Lacking in Kansas City Homes?

Most homes, including Kansas City, are lacking in roof insulation. Many builders primarily insulate the attic because it is cheaper and easier to install, and roof insulation is often under insulated.

If I Only Have a Little Money, Which Should I Do First?

In an ideal world, homeowners would have adequate attic and roof insulation, but in the real world, that is not always feasible. If you have a set budget for upgrading your home’s insulation, go for the attic insulation first, as it is cheaper to install and more profitable for you in the long run.

Which Will Save Me More Money?

Attic insulation will save you the most money initially, since the insulation is in the ceiling plane, which is the first layer of insulation between your home’s temperature and the temperature outdoors.

Hopefully you now have a better understanding of the differences, pros, and cons of both roof insulation and attic insulation. Both are critical to provide adequate insulation for your home, and provide substantial energy savings when installed correctly.

We pride ourselves on quality insulation installation, and would be happy to help you figure out the best insulation solution for your home.

8 Fun Facts about Air Sealing

A leaky house is like walking outside with your winter coat unzipped. Without the front of your coat closed, air is able to enter and circulate around your body. This air close to your body is what makes you cold. Controlling the air, by keeping it out with a zipper, has the same effect as air sealing does for your home.

Air sealing involves finding which parts of your home are leaking air and sealing them to control airflow. Here are some other things you may not have known about air sealing:

Those drafts that make you uncomfortable in your own home are also known as air leaks.
The best way to see if you have air leaks in your home is by using a special fan called a blower door. It fits in a doorway and pulls air from your home, measures how much leaks, and also can figure out where those air leaks are coming from.
Did you know that a typical home leaks up to 3x the amount of air that it should? Which results in a lot of wasted money, and plenty of room for improvement.
Ice dams are actually caused by air leakage into your home’s attic. The warm leaking air melts the snow on your roof which then refreezes on the edge of your cold eaves creating the ice dams.
It is possible to have a house that is “too tight”. Houses need proper ventilation to ensure a supply of fresh air to keep people healthy.
This problem typically arises in newer homes. If your house does have this problem, there are ways to fix this too.
The technical measurement for air leakage is in a unit of measure called cubic feet per minute at 50 Pascals (CFM50), which is about the same pressure as a 20 mph wind blowing on all sides of your home. We call Pascals ‘mouse farts’ in the home repair industry because it is such a small unit of pressure.
The optimum rate of air change for a house is every three hours. A very leaky house will have a rate closer to 30 minutes or an hour which is why your furnace has to work so much harder to keep up.
Some of the most common places that need air sealing in homes are basements and crawlspaces, attics (around lights, fans, plumbing, chimneys), walls (around outlet covers), and flooring.

If you’d like to know more about air sealing, call A+ Insulation at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511 and we’ll be glad to help. We can even perform a free home energy evaluation to help you know where your home is losing the most energy!

5 of the Best Reasons to Replace Your Home’s Insulation

If you’re wondering if your home needs new insulation, and the high energy bills aren’t enough of a clue, see if any of these other opportunities to install new insulation sound familiar:

Critters and Pests

Your home should be a place of refuge, but some pests take advantage of this. If you’ve noticed critters such as raccoons, squirrels, mice, or opossums around the exterior of your home, it may be a good idea to check your attic, basement, and crawlspaces for any infestations. Rodents and insects are skilled at finding a way into your home through even the smallest of openings such as holes in the roof or vents.

If you discover any signs of pests in your attic, basement, or crawlspaces, you will want to replace insulation after repairing any damage done by the critters. This will help prevent further infestation, and unpleasant smells due to any waste left by the pests, in the future. Another reason to be sure the attic is well-insulated is that it will help seal those openings (the same ones jacking up your energy bill) critters use to enter.

Leaky Roof and Water Damage

Just like critters can sneak in through the smallest of holes, so can water. Heavy rains or flooding can compromise the walls and roof of your home. With water coming in, and no way to dry out, there’s a good chance that you’ll have a mold, mildew, or bacteria problems on your hands. Attics, walls, and basements are all susceptible to this kind of water damage.

Some types of insulation are more or less susceptible to mold growth than others. Fiberglass is a non-biodegradable material and is resistant to mold growth. Cellulose-based insulation, made of paper materials, is the ideal food source for mold if it becomes wet. Even fiberglass can have a paper backing that would serve as a buffet for mold.

Other ways to make sure your home’s moisture is under control include air sealing, proper ventilation, and insulation to prevent condensation or around pipes to keep them from freezing and bursting.

Crumbly and Old

If you’ve noticed inconsistent temperatures in your home, old insulation may be to blame. Over time, you may notice that your insulation begin to loses some of its form, and may crumble or settle. Put on a glove and feel your attic insulation. If you think it still has its elasticity and can hold a shape, that’s great. If it feels crumbly, it’s time to look at replacing it.

There are multiple other ways to see if your insulation is insufficient or losing its effect. If you have an older home, consider the simple touch test. The interior ceilings, walls and floors in your home shouldn’t feel damp or cold. When drywall and paneling inside a home feels damp or cold, this means that there is not enough insulation in the walls.

Alternatively, when touching an exterior wall from outside, it should feel cold because insulation is keeping warm air inside the home. The next time you go out to get the mail, simply touch the exterior walls of your home to see how much heat you might be losing. Whether it’s replacing insulation or simply adding more as a retrofit, you have plenty of options.

Drafts Everywhere

Whether your problem area is around a doorway, window, or in the attic, drafts are a huge problem. Though some small drafts can be eliminated with some creative caulking, you probably need some extra insulation in those problem areas too. You may think drafts are just inconvenient, but they can cost you big bucks over time.

One of the best solutions we have for drafty areas is spray foam insulation. It’s a great option because it can get down deep into those cracks and crevices and it even seals while it insulates. It’s a great option if you’re looking for a cost-effective way to start saving on your energy bill long after your blown-in insulation has settled. We can insulate any of your problem areas including basement ceilings, wall spaces, and attic floors.

Noise Control

Do you ever stop and realize just how much noise your family makes? Kids want to play with loud toys while parents try to watch a quiet show. It happens, and it probably leads to some conflict. Soundproofing insulation is your easiest solution.

In addition to reducing noise pollution from construction and trains outside, we can add soundproofing insulation to home movie theaters, playrooms, nurseries, and home offices. Soundproofing insulation will improve your quality of life by reducing noise pollution inside. We can add this either during the construction or renovation of your home or we can easily retrofit existing residences. No matter what your home is like, you can benefit from the decrease in noise and increase in peace.

If any of this sounds familiar, call A+ Insulation at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511 and we’ll be glad to inspect your home and install new insulation. We can even perform a free home energy evaluation to help you know where your home is losing the most energy!