Category Archives: Residential

How to Prevent Ice Dams on Your Roof

An ice dam is a thick ridge of solid ice that builds up along the eaves at the edge of your roof. Ice dams prevent melting snow (water) from draining properly off the roof. The water that backs up behind the dam can leak into your home and cause damage to walls, ceilings, insulation, and other areas. Plus, dangling icicles are dangerous to people below. So what’s a homeowner to do? The pros at A+ Insulation explain the causes and the solutions for homeowners with ice dam problems. Read on to make this winter ice-dam free.

Ice Dams Cause Damage to Roofs, Gutters, and Even People

While groups of long icicles hanging from your roof may look pretty, they are very dangerous. The weight of the ice keeps increasing and can loosen shingles underneath, cause water to back up into your house, and even tear off gutters. Not to mention the danger of an ice dam, or a portion of one, breaking loose and hurting someone below.

Why Ice Dams Form

Ice dams form when your roof is warm, but the eaves are cold. The problem here: your roof should not be warm. A warm roof means heat (energy) is escaping through your roof. When the roof gets too warm because heat has collected in the attic, it causes the snow on the roof to melt. It melts, runs to the edge of the roof to enter the gutter, but freezes on the cold eaves that have no warm air underneath. As more snow melts, more ice freezes at the edge essentially forming a dam of ice. Water from the melting snow then backs up behind it and can flow under the shingles and into your home.

What to Do with Existing Ice Dams

To prevent ice dams, you could lay heated cables attached with clips along your eave in a zigzag pattern to keep the eaves warm. Unfortunately, you have to install the cable before any ice dams have formed. Here’s a cheaper tip from the This Old House website. First, don’t get your pantyhose in a bunch…simply take a pair of old pantyhose and fill a leg with ice melt granules. Then, lay the pantyhose perpendicular to the gutter in the middle of the ice dam. The ice melt will slowly melt a hole there allowing the water to reach the gutter averting any leaks in your home from water backup.

Permanent Fixes for Ice Dams

To get rid of ice dams for good, you must keep your entire roof the same temperature, including the eaves. This requires increasing the insulation, sealing any leaks from your home to the attic, and making sure your attic has proper ventilation. A professional insulation company like A+ Insulation will take care of all of those problems. That’s what we do when we install insulation in your home. A ridge vent (vent along the peak of your roof) combined with soffit vents along your eaves keeps your entire roof from getting warm. An unsealed attic door or whole-house fan opening can let a lot of heat into your attic. We seal those as well. We seal around electrical cables and vent pipes with a and also look for any spots where light shines up from below or the insulation is stained black by the dirt from passing air. Then we add insulation to the attic floor to keep the heat below in your home where it belongs. Not only will new insulation keep ice dams from forming, it will reduce your energy bills as well.

If you’ve had trouble with ice dams in the past, give A+ Insulation a call at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511 and let us add insulation and seal your attic before the winter snows arrive.

How Does Insulation Work?

What’s the purpose of insulation? It mainly serves as a barrier that provides resistance to heat flow. Heat always wants to mix with cool to equalize the temperature. The more heat flow resistance your insulation provides, the lower your heating and cooling costs. Properly insulating your home not only reduces heating and cooling costs, but also improves comfort. So what else do homeowners need to know about their home’s insulation? A+ Insulation breaks it down for you!

How Insulation Works

To understand how insulation works, you must first understand heat flow. If you know basic rules of thermodynamics, you know heat always wants to move to cool. Heat flows in three different ways:

Conduction – conduction is the way heat moves through solid materials – a good example is when a spoon placed in a hot cup of liquid draws heat through its handle to your hand.
Convection – convection is the way heat circulates through liquids and gases – this is why lighter, warmer air rises, and cooler, denser air sinks in your home.
Radiation – Radiant heat travels in a straight line and heats anything solid in its path that absorbs its energy.

No matter which of these ways it flows, it will continue to flow until the temperature difference no longer exists. That means that in the winter, all of the heat in your home is trying to get out. It will flow to basements, garages, attics, etc. on its way toward the outdoors. During the summer, heat from the outside tries to get into your home. Insulating your home decreases the heat flow by providing a barrier.

How Insulation Materials Work

To reduce radiant heat gain, radiant barriers and reflective insulation systems work to keep radiant heat away. However, most insulation materials work by slowing the rate of conductive heat flow, and though to a lesser degree, convective heat flow as well. R-value is how insulation is rated for effectiveness. R stands for “resistance” to conductive heat flow. The higher the R-value, the better the insulation.

Home Insulation Either Keeps the Heat Out or Keeps the Heat In

To maintain comfort, the heat lost in the winter must be replaced by your heating system and the heat gained in the summer must be removed by your air conditioner. Properly insulating your home will decrease this heat flow by providing an effective resistance to the flow of heat. Compressed insulation, (loose insulation that has settled over time) is less effective. Also, remember that air sealing and moisture control are important to home energy efficiency and your health.

The amount of insulation, type of insulation and R-value will depend on your climate, the type of heating and cooling system your home or business has, and the parts of the house or building you want to insulate. To learn more, call A+ Insulation at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511.

How Much Money Can You Save by Insulating and Sealing Your Home?

We all want to save money. That’s a given. But how much money will you actually save by insulating and sealing your home? That’s a fair question. A+ Insulation did some research and got some answers for our customers. Read on to find out if insulation is an investment worth making.

How to Estimate Your Energy Savings

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that homeowners in the Kansas City area (Climate Zone 4) can save an average of 17% on heating and cooling costs by air sealing their homes and adding insulation in attics, floors over crawl spaces, and accessible basement rim joists. Considering that heating and cooling costs account for about half of your total energy costs every year, that’s a significant amount of money. It’s easy to figure. Add up all of your energy costs from last year. Divide that number in half, and then take 17% of that. That’s your estimated savings in actual dollars. And don’t forget, you’ll be saving that every year after too.

How Did the EPA Determine a “Typical Home” for Estimating

The Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) from the U.S. Energy Information Administration based its modeling of a “typical” U.S. home around common construction characteristics of homes built after the 1973 oil embargo when an increase in energy awareness in home construction meant more energy improvements than the industry previously had seen. The EPA based this estimate on energy modeling of basic, cost-effective improvements made to these “typical” existing homes with specific characteristics. Professional building science contractors corroborated the results. The EPA assumed the following characteristics for a house from the 1970 to 1989 era:

1,700 square feet of conditioned floor area
15% window-to-floor-area ratio
23% total system duct leakage
Four bedrooms
“Stick” construction (wooden studs, joists and rafters), with batt insulation in walls and blown insulation in attics

Visit this page on the Energy.gov website for a more detailed breakdown of the data on the “typical” home .

Table 1: Estimated Savings from Home Sealing and Insulating

If you’re interested in saving 17% on your heating and cooling costs, call A+ Insulation at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511 and insulate your home before the cold weather gets here.

High Energy Bills? Try Our DIY Home Energy Audit

Are your energy bills high but you don’t know why? A home energy audit will help you determine the areas of your home that are losing energy. The experts at A+ Insulation offer you some tips with this DIY home energy audit.

1. Is your home leaking air? If you answered yes, this could be one of the biggest sources of energy loss in your home, and sealing those gaps is a quick way to make your home more comfortable and efficient. You can fix these problems by caulking or weatherstripping.

2. Have you checked your water heater settings recently? Most water heaters heat water to a set temperature – causing the water heater cycles to continuously turn on and off. By lowering your setting a few degrees, you can often save half as much energy as air sealing would. Worried about cold water? Chances are the small change won’t even make a difference for your daily usage.

3. How often do you change your thermostat? Without sacrificing comfort, you can turn your thermostat on and off (or up and down) while you and your family are sleeping. You may be surprised at how much money and energy you will save by making these small changes every day or night.

4. Is your home properly insulated? The greater the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the more energy it takes to maintain a comfortable temperature in your home. And by adding insulation, you will decrease those energy demands and get a return on your investment in as little as three years.

5. How old is your refrigerator? Did you know refrigerators hold a set temperature, much like a water heater does? Better sealed and insulated refrigerators with updated mechanical systems will help lower your energy costs. If you don’t want to replace your refrigerator, consider replacing the seal on the door, to ensure it closes properly.

6. What kind of water heater and furnace do you have? Natural gas is oftentimes cheaper than electric appliances. Providing they’re available, high efficiency gas furnaces are worth installing, and will help lower the overall energy being used to heat your home.

If you have additional questions, or would like a free energy evaluation, give A+ Insulation a call at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511.

Is Your Home Ready for Cold Weather?

Cool weather is coming, Kansas City. Before we know it, Old Man Winter will be blowing below-zero gusts down the backs of our necks. But before that happens, you need to take a look at your home and decide if it’s prepared to keep you warm and keep utility bills from skyrocketing when temps plummet. There are some easy ways to check your home for snugness. A+ Insulation created this checklist to follow:

Bugs – If you find bugs in your house, they’re getting in somewhere. And where bugs get in, air gets in too reducing your home’s energy efficiency. Check around doors and windows, foundations (check for cracks and where the foundation and house come together). You may need to caulk or re-caulk these places.

Drafts – Drafts are a sure sign of problems. Again, drafts occur mostly around windows and doors, so add weather stripping, draft guards and caulk where needed.

High Air Conditioning Bills – Believe it or not, if your air conditioning bills are high, your heating bills are likely to be high as well. High AC bills could be a sign of poor insulation, air leaks, or your air conditioner may need a tune-up. Change your filter every month (this will help your furnace in the winter as well) and check for air leaks. Also check your insulation. Insulation settles over time and becomes less efficient. Plus, most homes have the bare minimum amount of insulation added by the builder to meet code requirements. Adding more will make your home more energy efficient.

Cold Walls/Floors – Are your feet always cold? Do your walls feel cold to the touch in the winter? If so, your home could use more insulation in between the floor joists and the walls.

Ice Dams/Icicles – If you had ice buildup on your roof last winter, your attic is poorly insulated and vented. An ice dam forms when the roof over the attic gets warm enough to melt the snow. The water trickles down between the snow and the shingles until it reaches the cold eave that extends beyond the side of the house. There, the water freezes, slowly growing into a mound of ice. Better insulation and ventilation will prevent this problem.

An Energy Evaluation Will Reveal Your Home’s Weak Points

The only way to really tell where your home is leaking is to have a home energy evaluation. A home energy evaluation will pinpoint the places that are wasting the most energy. The A+ Insulation team can perform a home energy evaluation for free. We’ll be able to tell you where you can make the changes that will make your home feel cozy and snug this winter. Plus, you’ll lower your energy bills.

It’s free, so call us and get informed about your home’s energy efficiency before winter gets here. Call (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511.

Spray Foam Insulation-Seal and Insulate for Better Energy Efficiency

More people in North Kansas City are opting to choose spray foam insulation. There are a number of reasons spray foam insulation is growing in popularity. Below are some of the benefits that can be reaped from using spray foam insulation:

Spray Foam Insulation Reduces Energy Loss

It is estimated that around 30 percent of the energy in your home is lost through the floor, walls and roof. However, spray foam insulation will help reduce the amount of energy that is lost. You will be making your home more energy efficient by adding spray foam insulation. Spray foam insulation can potentially reduce your heating costs by up to 30 percent. You will likely be able to get your investment back within three or four years.

Reduce Allergens with Spray Foam Insulation

Energy saving is not the only way that you can benefit from spray foam insulation. You can reduce allergens in your home by getting spray foam insulation. Professional spray foam insulation has sealing qualities, which is what prevents dust and other allergens from entering your home.

Spray Foam Insulation Has Longevity

You will not have to worry about spray foam insulation sagging or settling over time like other types of insulation can. It will remain in place. The Spray foam insulation North Kansas City professionals will ensure that the insulation is installed correctly. Furthermore, you will not have to worry about spray foam insulation attracting pests. It does not provide a food source. It also does not provide good nesting material.

Seal Every Crack and Keep Out Moisture

One of the many great things about spray foam insulation is that it can expand to up to 100 times its size. It will be able to fill every crack in your ceilings, walls and crawlspaces. This allows for total air sealing and protection from outside air and moisture.

If you want to know more about spray foam home insulation, give A+ insulation a call. You can contact us at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511.

How Much Energy Is Your Home Wasting?

August is the hottest month of the year. How much money do you think you’re paying to keep your home cool? According to the Energy.gov website, heating and cooling account for about 48% of the energy used in a typical home. That’s about half of your total energy bills! Go ahead and take a look at your July or August energy bill. Think there’s room for improvement? In our business, we know there is.

You Can’t Fix an Energy Leak if You Don’t Know Where the Leak Is

So where do you start? The best place to start is with a home energy audit from A+ Insulation. A home energy assessment and whole-house plan can help you determine which purchases and improvements will save you the most money and energy. Are your windows and doors leaky? Is your attic properly ventilated? Do you have enough insulation in your walls, attic, basement, etc.?

Identify Your Energy Leaks with a Free Energy Audit

A home energy audit is the first step to saving energy and money. Most homes don’t have enough insulation to be energy efficient. Builders typically only add the bare minimum required by code. Insulation makes up for 70% of the total heat gain and loss in your home. Let A+ Insulation come give you a free home energy evaluation. We can then tell you where you can make the changes that will affect your bills the most. Our energy auditor will do an exterior inspection as well as a room-by-room examination of your home. We will perform a blower door test to pinpoint leaks, as well as a thermographic scan to find hot and cold spots. Then we analyze our findings and create a comprehensive home energy report. This is the best way to determine where a home is wasting energy and where improvements can be made. From air sealing to improving ventilation to adding insulation, our energy assessment team will help you save money. You can save 5%-30% on your energy bill by making upgrades following a home energy assessment.

Free Energy Assessment and Free Financing for a Year

It’s free, so call us today and start improving your home and saving money with better insulation, air sealing and ventilation. We also offer 0% financing for one year, so you might as well pull the trigger now and enjoy a cooler house this summer and a warmer house all winter without paying a penny of interest.

Call A+ Insulation today at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511 and schedule a free energy evaluation for your home.

The A+ Guide to Insulation Installation-Which Type of Insulation Is Best for Attics, Walls, Basements, Etc.

There are many types of insulation available to make your home more energy efficient. So how do you know which type is best for certain areas of your home. While rolled or batted fiberglass insulation may be the easiest type to work with, it’s not always the best choice for ultimate efficiency. The insulation experts at A+ Insulation have created this quick guide to help you know which type of insulation is best whether you are adding it to your attic, walls, basement, or crawl spaces.

Which Insulation Is Best for Walls and Vaulted Ceilings?

Walls and vaulted ceilings are best insulated with blown-in fiberglass insulation or spray foam. For existing homes and businesses, it is best to drill a hole and fill the space behind the walls with blown-in fiberglass as it fills the cracks and crevices completely. Rolled or batted insulation (with a paper backing) are too difficult to install once the wall is built but common during construction when there is easy access to the walls before the drywall is up. When adding to an existing home, blown-in fiberglass can be added through a small hole between the studs and then repaired. Spray foam can also be added. It is a bit more expensive, but creates a better barrier because it goes on wet and seals even the smallest cracks creating a vapor barrier as well as a thermal barrier.

Attic Insulation Is Critical to Reducing Energy Loss

Attics are the number one place to benefit by adding insulation. Most homes and businesses are built with the minimum amount of attic insulation required by code. Almost every building can increase its energy efficiency by adding attic insulation. Your home acts like a large chimney. Heat naturally rises and energy loss through attics can be substantial. When warm air rises it increases the air pressure near the ceiling. The difference between that pressure and the lower pressure outside on a cold day drives the warm air through any opening it can find. Plus, the high pressure created at the top of your house causes cold air to be pulled in through the bottom near your foundation. Energy experts refer to this phenomenon as the stack effect. Before you add insulation, it’s wise to seal any cracks or crevices where air is getting through from the living area below. Adding blown-in fiberglass insulation is recommended. R-49 is code, but R-60 will provide optimal energy savings. You could also add spray foam insulation. While more expensive, it automatically seals the attic fixing air leaks as well as adding the thermal barrier. You must be careful not to block the attic vents in the eaves as some attic ventilation is necessary.

Basements and Crawlspaces Require Moisture Control

We recommend spray foam insulation in basements and crawlspaces due to the moisture common in these areas. Spray foam insulation creates a vapor barrier that keeps moisture out and closes any small air leaks that let cold air in during the winter due to the chimney effect. Vapor barriers will always seal best controlling air leaks and insulating at the same time.

If you’d like save money on your energy bills, contact the experts at A+ insulation and we’ll have one of our energy consultants come to your home to perform a free, no-obligation energy evaluation. Call us at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511.

Find Those Energy Leaks for Less with Our Angie’s List Big Deal Promotion

Almost every home has places where energy leaks out. Maybe your AC is sneaking out around your windows and doors. Perhaps your walls are under-insulated. What about the attic? Are you losing hundreds of dollars a year to a leaky attic? The hardest part of making sure your home is energy efficient is identifying those places that let air leak out so you can plug them up and stop the energy loss and lower high heating and cooling bills.

$49 Thermal Scan Attic Evaluation in July

There’s an easy way to find out where your home is leaking energy. It’s called an energy analysis. At A+ Insulation, we use these thermal scans to help homeowners find and fix the energy leaks in their homes. Now through July 31st, A+ Insulation is offering an attic evaluation thermal scan for just $49 through our Angie’s List Big Deal promotion. We’ll come to your home and use thermal imaging to “see” where energy is escaping. Then, we can make an accurate recommendation for your home to save you the most money on heating and cooling costs.

What Is a Thermal Scan Energy Analysis?

Thermal or infrared energy, is light which is not visible to the human eye because its wavelength is too long to be detected. It’s the part of the electromagnetic spectrum we perceive as “heat”. We use specially designed infrared video or still cameras to make images (called thermograms) that show differences in surface heat. Infrared thermographic cameras produce images of invisible infrared or “heat” radiation letting us “see” where the temperature differences are in your home. Images on the video or film record the temperature varying from white for warm regions to black for cooler areas. The resulting images help us determine accurately where insulation or more insulation is needed.

See Where Your Home Is Leaking Energy

A thermal scan or a home energy evaluation detects the intrusion of either warm or cold entering your home in areas that the insulation is either missing or damaged by moisture. We get the most accurate thermographic images when there is a large temperature difference (at least 20°F) between inside and outside air temperatures. July is a great time to get a good reading on your home to be able to beef up your insulation and seal any leaks.

Call us today to take advantage of the $49 thermal scan attic evaluation through our Angie’s List Big Deal offer. It ends July 31st, so call today! Call us at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511.

Are There Squirrels In Your Attic? 3 Problems They Can Cause

At A+ Insulation, we’ve installed insulation in a lot of attics in Kansas City. We’ve also seen what wildlife, particularly squirrels, can do to an attic. It isn’t pretty. Here are some issues to be aware of if you have or have had animals in your attic.

Problems Caused by Squirrels in Your Attic

Squirrels are cute when they’re running around outside or playing in trees, but once they get into your home, the only thing you want is to get them out. Squirrels can cause a lot of unwanted damage to your home. They like to make nests in your insulation. This mats it down and makes it less effective. They also leave urine and feces throughout your attic causing unpleasant odors. If the inhabitants have been there for a length of time, it may be necessary to remove old insulation, clean the area, and install new insulation. Besides mess and odor, squirrels have been known to cause serious damage. They like to chew on all sorts of surfaces – lead piping around plumbing stacks, vents, wires, and of course, wood. They can even chew through and burst PVC plumbing piping, resulting in flooding or water damage. But the biggest danger to your home are wires. A chewed upon and exposed electrical wire is a fire hazard. No one wants their house to burn down because of rodent damage.

Physically Removing Squirrels Is Your Best Bet

Physically removing the squirrels is the best way to rid your home for good. There are many tactics such as mothballs, ammonia, fox or coyote urine, high-pitched sound machines, strobe lights, and more, but they aren’t reliable. Find out where they are coming in and set a trap there to capture the squirrel(s). Once removed, make sure you find and close all entrances so they can’t get back in. Make sure that all roof vents have a heavy steel screen intact, all of the plumbing stacks are screened off (sometimes the pipes are open inside the attic), all of the ridge cap plugs are intact, the gable vents are screened, the soffits are intact, etc. All repairs should be performed with steel and bolts, so that the squirrels can’t chew through them.

How to Deal with Baby Squirrels in Your Attic

One problem you may run into when removing the squirrels is that you may find a mother with babies in her nest. If you’d like to do the humane thing, just wait about eight weeks to remove the squirrels. Babies mature quickly and will be able to survive outside by eight weeks old. The only downside is that you’ll have more squirrels to catch in your traps. Of course, if you don’t want to deal with this yourself, you can always call a professional animal control company. Just make sure you get the entrance(s) fixed or you’ll just be removing more squirrels in a few months.

Removing Squirrels in a Nutshell (pun intended)

Find the nest in the attic
If there are baby squirrels, wait 7-8 weeks
Trap the squirrels and remove them
Identify and seal all the entrances so they can’t re-enter
Find and repair chewed wires
Clean the biohazard and remove contaminated insulation
Replace any insulation that had to be removed
Add more insulation if it has settled low enough to see the floor joists. (According to the Energy Star website, the recommended level for most attics is to insulate to R-38 or about 10 to 14 inches, depending on insulation type.)

If you need help with attic insulation, call the Kansas City insulation experts at A+ Insulation at (913) 281-2250 or (816) 268-7511. Also, download our Free Comparison of Window Replacement vs. Insulation below!