Does Your Cincinnati Home Have Adequate Insulation in All the Right Places?

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The adequacy of insulation is a key factor in your Cincinnati home’s comfort and energy efficiency. If your house was constructed with energy savings in mind, it should have insulation that meets the Department of Energy’s R-value recommendations for our region in the exterior walls, attic and basement or flooring.

Unfortunately, older homes and many newer homes don’t meet these home insulation standards. Upgrading insulation can be a good investment, but you need to choose the projects that will give you the most bang for your buck.

Unless you’re already removing the siding from exterior walls for other reasons, adding insulation to them might not make economic sense. Upgrading insulation in the following areas, though, can be reasonably inexpensive and result in excellent returns on your investments:

  • Attic insulation. Upgrading attic insulation to achieve the recommended R-49 insulating value for our area can be an excellent investment. A well-insulated attic will keep your home warmer on cold days and cooler on hot days.
  • Basement or crawl space. If the basement or crawl space is unvented, adding insulation to the interior walls can increase your home’s comfort and energy efficiency. If the area below the ground floor is vented, adding insulation beneath the flooring is the best option.
  • Insulating ductwork. Any central heating and air conditioning ducts that run through unconditioned parts of your house such as the attic, garage or vented crawl space should be insulated to prevent energy losses from conditioned air. All ducts should be well sealed to prevent air leaks.
  • Electrical outlets and switches. Even though adding insulation to entire exterior walls might not pay off, you can insulate the spaces behind electrical outlet and switch covers to block drafts and save energy.

Before you spend any money on home insulation upgrades, be sure to seal air leaks around doors and windows by caulking around frames and replacing weatherstripping. Home insulation isn’t very effective if air can flow directly in and out of your house.

For professional help with home insulation, contact Apollo Home Heating, Cooling and Plumbing today. We’re proud to serve homeowners in and around the greater Cincinnati area.

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"We scheduled an estimate AND a tune-up. We knew something was wrong with our furnace, but hoped we could make it through the rest of the season. Upon telling Bill what our furnace was doing, he warned us immediately what the possible outcome was going to be; a cracked heat exchanger. He watched the flames roll backward, tested carbon monoxide levels, which were so high they meter’s last reading was 5,600 before saying “high”. He immediately shut it down, tagged it, and explained that with levels that high and children in our home he wanted off right away. He continued his inspection and showed us via a camera that not only was it cracked in multiple places, but had holes all over it. He gave us a few options for repairing it; his knowledge as well as genuine concern was beneficial and refreshing. Luckily we also scheduled an estimator, Micah, to come too and we were able to get costs between repairing and replacing (with several options). We decided to replace with a much higher efficiency furnace and one sized properly to our home. Hands down, not only did they both provide us great service and knowledge, but without sounding dramatic, they may have saved our lives. This was our first time calling Apollo, but it won’t be our last."
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