Does Your Roof Have the Proper R-Value of Insulation?
R-value is the resistance to heat or cold airflow, and the higher the R-value, the greater the insulating power. The recommended R-value standard is different for each zone in the United States to optimize energy savings, heat or cold, while still allowing the home to breathe. The R-value for Alaska is different from California. Sacramento and most of California are in Zone 3, which requires attic insulation with an R-value between 30 and 60.
Why Attic Insulation R-Value Matters for California Homeowners
Your attic has a dramatic impact on the temperature throughout your home. Without proper insulation, your attic will heat up in the blazing California summers, warming your home like a furnace, and during the winter, you could lose up to 25% of your home’s heat. Having a properly insulated attic with the correct R-value helps keep the temperature in your home consistent, which makes you comfortable and has a positive effect on your energy bill. The less conditioned air your home loses, regardless of the season, the easier it will be for your heating or cooling system to keep your home within a comfortable temperature range — an insulated attic equates to an overall energy-efficient home.
How Much Insulation Will Your Attic Need?
Now that you know the R-value recommended for your California home’s attic insulation, and understand how important it is to properly insulate your attic, you are ready to make your home’s attic insulation the optimum value. But how much insulation do you already have and how much will be needed to top off and make the recommended R-value? The recommended R-value by thickness used to be R-19 at 7 inches. Your insulation should be no less than R-38 at 13.5 inches high.
Health Concerns
Before adding insulation to a pre-insulated attic, this is the best time to consider replacing the older, outdated (asbestos, vermiculite, and cellulose), and contaminated insulation for health reasons. Over 95% of attics contain rodent feces and not just from rats and mice, but bats, owls, squirrels, bees, and possums. Plus a poorly roofed home will grow mold and mildew in the attic and on the insulation.
Do-It-Yourself or Hire A Professional to Insulate Your Attic?
Most home improvement upkeep projects can be done by the homeowner; however, there are several that should be left to a professional, one who has years of experience doing the work, due to the complexity, danger, and the many possibilities of things going wrong. Roofing, installing covered gutters that you will never have to clean again, electrical, and insulating an attic are a few that we, as homeowners, recommend hiring a professional to not only make sure the job is done right but to avoid any hazards that the casual ladder climber, electricity navigator, and once in a while attic visitor will accidentally come across.
Byers will inspect your current insulation and recommend removing it or if it is in good condition, top it off to the R-38 value height. Yes, Byers knows insulation, it is a part of the elite roofer’s code of helping a homeowner protect their home, family, and pets.
