Insulation is designed to prevent heat or sound being transmitted from one area to another. It consists of millions of tiny pockets of air. Arizona homeowners probably don’t think too much about insulation until you notice your utility bills increasing month over month. February is a good time to learn more about why insulation was included with the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act for homeowner tax credits.

Why Insulation

Insulation has two important functions. First, it helps keep warm air generated by heaters and fireplaces inside while minimizing cold air from entering your home. Second, insulation also helps block heat and prevents it from mixing with cooler air being produced by air conditioners and ceiling fans.

Where it’s Installed

Insulation can be installed anywhere outdoor air can leak inside. Common areas include ceilings, walls, crawlspaces, floors, and attics. Insulation can be highly effective to moderate the temperature inside a home when combined with sealing gaps around doors and windows. The type of building materials used in your home will be important in determining the thickness of insulation used.

What’s R-Value

The thermal resistance of insulation is measured by its R-value. This measurement considers thickness and compactness of the insulation. The higher the R-value, the more that a home will be protected from heat and cold. The Department of Energy recommends insulation R-values that are in the R-38 to R-60 range for an attic and R-13 to R-30 for crawlspaces in Zone 4, which includes the Valley of the Sun.

What Are the Types of Insulation

• Fiberglass – Fiberglass insulation is the most common and inexpensive type. It’s available in sheets or rolls and is relatively simple to install. However, it can be irritating to skin and eyes becoming less effective if it gets wet.
• Rigid Foam – This type of insulation is more insulative than fiberglass, and it’s a good choice for exterior walls and low slope roofs.
• Blown-in Cellulose – This is a liquid-type insulation product that can be blown in instead of rolled out. Because it’s made from recycled wood fibers, it is typically more environmentally friendly. However, it’s considerably more expensive than other types of insulation.
• Spray Foam Insulation – This is often considered the most desirable type of insulation because it typically outperforms fiberglass and rigid foam.

Cool Blew and Insulation

If you’re experiencing drafts in rooms, your utility bills are going up unexpectedly, or you’d like to learn more about the tax advantages of adding additional insulation, contact Cool Blew today at 623-872-2900.

The type of insulation your home needs depends on several factors, such as your local climate, the types of materials used to construct your house, and your monthly utility bills. With Arizona’s extreme temperatures, proper insulation may save 40% to 60% on your monthly utility bills. In other words, it’s worth the effort to ensure your home has the proper level of insulation.

R-Values

The U.S. Department of Energy and the International Energy Conservation publish climate zone guidelines and codes for the most effective levels of insulation for each of the geographic areas of the United States. These recommendations are made in the form of R-values, which are measures of the effectiveness of any insulating material for its resistance to transferal of heat. Climate zones are calculated at the county level for each state and territory.

As R-values go higher, so does the insulating material’s ability to resist heat transfer, which makes the higher R-values more desirable in terms of insulating effectiveness. For Arizona, Maricopa and Pima counties are both coded as 2B. Climate zone 2B is designated as “Hot Dry” with guidelines provided for appropriate levels of insulation for floors, attics, rooms with cathedral ceilings, and wood frame walls.

Attic Insulation

For the Valley of the Sun, if your home has blanket-type insulation rolls, they should be at least 12 inches (R38 to R39) thick in your attic, although 15 or 20 inches (R49 to R60) would be even better. Anything less than 12 inches means that you’re probably letting warm or cool air escape and wasting money on your monthly energy bills.

Wall Insulation

Wall insulation should completely insulate wall spaces as there’s really no way to overstuff the insulation between walls. Insulation should go literally from floor to ceiling, with no missing areas or gaps in the wall coverage. All wrap insulation should fit snugly around the ductwork, all plumbing fixtures and piping, the electrical boxes, and all wiring or cabling which runs through the walls. For uninsulated wood-frame walls, the minimum level should be R13.

Call Cool Blew

For answers to your questions or to schedule a service call, call your local experts at Cool Blew. Our heating and cooling professionals can help you determine if you have sufficient insulation. Call us today at 623-872-2900.

Looking for ways to lower your energy bill? One option may be to upgrade your home’s insulation. There are many types of insulation for residential use including blanket, structural insulated panels, foam board, loose-fill, and blown-in fiberglass.

Insulation Home Uses

Your home’s insulation is like an extra layer of skin, shielding the interior of your house from weather elements and acting as a barrier to unwanted air leakage. Often, gaps, holes, breaks, warps, uncovered interior nooks, concrete exterior blocks, unreached corners and unseen crevices compromise your home’s insulation integrity.

Here’s a statistic to consider when thinking about reaching out to any local professional company to do the work: the average American home loses 20-30 percent of its heated or cooled air due to leakage.

The Benefits of Spray Foam Insulation

One of the best options available is spray foam insulation as a potential solution for your home’s energy plan. Spray foam insulation is a liquid foam sprayed into specific areas of your home to form an insulating layer. Used for over 30 years, this type of insulation can be used to insulate your roof, walls, floors, and anywhere you need to plug and prevent air leaks.

Spray foam insulation has distinct advantages over other types of insulation, including:

• It can be used in hard-to-reach places.
• It can provide additional interior sound insulation.
• It is highly effective in eliminating costly air leakages.

In addition to its usefulness for indoor climate control, spray foam insulation also helps head off rodent and insect invasions, reduces contamination by airborne pollen during allergy season, and prevents water leaks that can cause mold, mildew, wood rot, and a subsequent increase in your water bill.

The holes, gaps, and breaks that allow air to escape your house, sneak into your home’s interior, and ultimately prevent your insulation layer from performing optimally can be filled with this type of insulation, allowing you to save on your heating and cooling bills over time. Ready to contact an expert for additional details about spray foam insulation and how it can fit your budget? Call your local Metro Phoenix HVAC professionals at Cool Blew today at 623-872-2900.

There really isn’t any one-size-fits-all answer to the question of how much insulation you need in your home. As a rule of thumb however, it centers around the climate in your area and the cost of energy which supplies your home. Since insulation retains warmth or heat which can add to the comfort of all occupants in the home, and can help keep your utility bills lower, it’s certainly worth maintaining the proper level of insulation.

If you really want to be sure about having the proper levels of insulation at your home in Surprise, Phoenix, Sun City, Scottsdale, Peoria, or Glendale, you can simply call the experts at Cool Blew Inc. and have the heating and cooling professionals determine all that for you. And if you are the do-it-yourselfer type, you can use the information below to help you figure out how much insulation your home needs to be well protected.

DOE recommendation

The Department of Energy has issued a chart which recommends the proper levels of insulation for each of the geographic areas of the United States, and the climates which can be expected there. These recommendations are made in the form of R-values, which are measures of the effectiveness of any insulating material for its resistance to transferal of heat.

As R-values go higher, so does the insulating material’s ability to resist heat transfer, which makes the higher R-values more desirable in terms of insulating effectiveness. This chart depicts various areas of the home and the appropriate levels of insulation for each, for instance floor insulation, attics, and rooms with cathedral ceilings. It also shows how each of these should be insulated in the various climatic zones across the country. If you don’t want to bother calculating or using the chart, simply insulate to R-60, which is a high level that you can’t go wrong with at any location.

Attic insulation

If you’re using blanket-type insulation rolls, they should be at least 12 inches thick in your attic, although 15 or 20 inches would be even better. Anything less than 12 inches means that you’re probably letting warm or cool air escape, and wasting money on your energy bills. For do-it-yourselfers, this is one of the most cost-effective projects you can undertake in the home, and it’s well worth the cost of whatever insulating materials you use.

Wall insulation

Without a doubt, wall insulation should be as thick as you can possibly make it, and there’s really no way you can overstuff the insulation between walls. It should also go literally from floor to ceiling, with no missing areas or gaps in the wall coverage. If this is a project you’re doing yourself, make sure to wrap the insulation snugly around the ductwork, all plumbing fixtures and piping, the electrical boxes, and all wiring or cabling which runs through the walls.