Why Bother Insulating Your Home’s Roof or Attic Space?
Insulating your roof and attic space will help retain energy in your home, often leading to cooling cost savings and overall home comfort improvement.
Properly insulating in and around your roof attic space can make your home healthier and more durable. It can also help prevent costly long-term damage from moisture build up or ice damming, which often results from poorly insulated/ventilated attics that allow warm air escape through the attic and reach the apex of the roof, thus heating up and melting the snow in winter).
Additionally, roof and attic insulation serve as a way to enhance sound proofing on the uppermost envelop of your house.
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There are five primary types of insulation for roofs, with their own advantages and disadvantages. The key value is always the capacity of insulation to resist heat flow. — This is also known as thermal resistance and is often measured in terms of R-value. The higher that value, the better the insulating power.
Blown-in or Loose-Fill Insulation
This is one of the two most common types of insulation. Often installed into wall cavities as a way to retrofit walls lacking insulation, it can also be blown into unfinished attic spaces. Typically, fiberglass or cellulose are the most common material choices.
R-value for loose-fill insulation can range between R2 and R4, with higher R-value for fiberglass loose-fill.
Pros: relatively low expense, fairly easy to install (blown-in or poured in).
Cons: as the material settles over time, the R-value is (slightly) lessened, needs vapor barrier as the material is prone to moisture absorption.
Cost: Generally, homeowners seek R value between R30 and R50, and to achieve that for an area of 1,000 sq. ft., the total cost would be between $1,000 to $1,800, depending on the project specifics, ease of access, and property location.