If home insulation was a character\u00a0in a fairy tale, it\u2019d be the plain, hardworking younger sister who never gets\u00a0the attention her beautiful heart deserves. The flashy, vain and overly-quaffed\u00a0sisters would get all the looks, but never deliver the selfless value of Little\u00a0Miss Insulation.<\/p>\n
When we watch movies like these, we all know where real virtue is found. So why do our insulation dollars so often get seduced away by a countertop upgrade, a luxury floor option, or an alluring hot tub? Appearance. Our eyes easily fool us. And the ugly truth about insulation is that, well, it\u2019s easily forgotten about. It hides behind our painted walls or underneath our carefully chosen flooring. But what you might not realize is that besides making your home more comfortable in all seasons, insulation upgrades can also bring beautiful, flashy and high-end things to your life, too. You want a hot tub? A hardwood floor? A granite countertop? Upgrade Insulation first, then let it pay for these instead of you. All it\u00a0takes is a few years.<\/p>\n
If your home is under-insulated now\u00a0\u2013 and hundreds of thousands in Canada are \u2013 adding batts or blown-in mineral fibre\u00a0to the attic could save you enough to pay for a tropical vacation each year.\u00a0Insulation upgrades could pay for a new car every 7 or 8 years, or put your new\u00a0baby through college when the time comes.<\/p>\n
Can you tell I like insulation? It\u2019s easy when you understand what it can do for you. And it\u2019s not just about\u00a0money. A well-insulated home heated to 20\u00baC is actually more comfortable than a\u00a0poorly insulated house that demands more energy to maintain that same 20\u00baC room\u00a0temperature during winter. Fewer drafts and freedom from cold spots are the\u00a0reasons why. The same goes for air conditioned spaces during summer. If you\u00a0could feel the difference between the home you\u2019ve got now and that same place\u00a0with an insulation upgrade, you\u2019d understand right away.<\/p>\n
So how much insulation is\u00a0enough? \u00a0That\u2019s hard to say when you look\u00a0at people who take energy efficiency a long way. A contractor I know in North\u00a0York built a home for himself that has R-70 in the walls and R-90 in the attic.\u00a0That\u2019s roughly double what ordinary new homes get now. \u201cExperts\u201d will tell you\u00a0this builder is crazy, yet his heating bill is less than $20 a month during\u00a0winter. Sure, this place is also built exceptionally well, but it would never\u00a0perform the way it does without insulation levels that go way beyond code.<\/p>\n
On a scale of 1 to 10, how\u00a0important is insulation? That depends on what you\u2019ve got now. Many Canadian homes have less than 8 inches in the attic. If that\u2019s you, then an insulation\u00a0upgrade is a 9 or 10 on the scale. It\u2019ll save you more than a new furnace\u00a0costing 8 or 9 times as much.<\/p>\n
Insulation is like the goose that lays golden eggs. Be patient and she\u2019ll save you enough money to do things with your home you\u2019d normally have to pay for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If home insulation was a character\u00a0in a fairy tale, it\u2019d be the plain, hardworking younger sister who never gets\u00a0the attention her beautiful heart deserves. The flashy, vain and overly-quaffed\u00a0sisters would get all the looks, but never deliver the selfless value of Little\u00a0Miss Insulation. When we watch movies like these, we all know where real virtue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[70,65,72,66,67,36,19,38,33,69,37,71,52,68,35,74,73],"class_list":["post-898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-owner","tag-canadian-homes","tag-comfort","tag-comfortable","tag-comfy","tag-cozy","tag-energy-bills","tag-energy-efficiency","tag-energy-efficient-homes","tag-energy-evaluation","tag-energy-labelling","tag-energy-savings","tag-how-much-insulation","tag-insulation","tag-insulation-upgrades","tag-utility-bills","tag-weatherisation","tag-weatherization"],"yoast_head":"\n