Household Fixes

Crawl space and attic insulation are essential when weatherizing your home. Without proper insulation air leakage will occur. This will make your heating and air work harder, less effectively. I will explain the best way to insulate both your attic and crawl space.

Attic insulation is often accomplished with fiberglass. When using this type of insulation make sure the backing is facing toward you. You should secure insulation against studs, the staples spaced 6″ apart. Special cut insulation is needed for uneven areas, pipes and wiring. This will ensure an air tight seal. Unfaced material is needed around heat sources. You should allow a 3″ gap around light fixtures.

The First step in crawl space insulation is to seal all the leaks. Be sure to seal band joist. Pay special attention to drains, pipes and electrical wiring.

Crawl space insulation is a little more difficult. The first step is to seal all of the leaks. Particularly pipes, drains wiring and band joints.

If you have a vented crawl space make sure appliances in it has a powered combustion system then close the vents, to prevent moisture buildup. When insulation be sure to tape the seams before you fasten them and either house wrap, vapor barrier afterwards.

Many prefer fiberglass for attic insulation. This should be installed with the backing facing out. Staple the insulation to the studs spacing the staples six inches apart. Cut special pieces for uneven areas pipes and wiring. This will guarantee an air tight seal. Because facing is flammable unfaced insulation should be used around heated sources. You should allow for 3″ around the lights so it can cool.

Vented crawl space insulation precautions; appliances in the crawl space should have a powered combustion system so vents can close. Once insulation is up the house needs vapor wrapped.

Attic insulation is necessary to prevent heat from escaping or invading your home. Crawl space insulation stops cold air leakage and moisture retention. You have read the usefulness of both when it comes to lowering utility bills and improving your homes value. You now have the knowledge to insulate your home properly. This will ensure lower heating bills.

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It may come as somewhat of a surprise, but not every heating system is created equal. Though most of your homes heat will be delivered to its destination as a result of adjustments you make to your individual zones thermostats, the method of delivery could be very different depending upon what resource is responsible for heating your home.

The most common resources used to heat a home are natural gas, oil and electricity. In both oil and natural gas heated homes, the systems could be further broken down into two more possibilities: forced water systems and forced air systems. In forced air systems, hot air is carried through duct work inside of the walls of your home and delivered via discharge vents that may be on the floor, the walls or the ceiling. In forced water systems, water is heated at the boiler and pushed through cooper pipes to radiators which provide heat to the individual rooms.

Forced air systems will generally heat a room more quickly, but in order to maintain the temperature to which the thermostat is set they may have to continue running, where forced water systems (with cast iron radiators) the radiators will take longer to heat up, but will hold the heat for a much longer duration allowing the boiler to run less often once it has heated the room to the requested temperature.

In both types of natural gas and oil home heating system, the generating of the heat begins with a furnace or boiler. When the thermostat is set for a higher temperature than what the current temperature of the home is – the boiler will fire, using either the gas or the oil to heat the water or air depending upon the delivery system. The heated air or water will then travel through the ducts or pipes to deliver the heat where it is needed. Once the room has reached the requested temperature, the boiler will shut down until the temperature drops below where the thermostat is set. Both natural gas and oil systems can be very efficient, with the latest technology its really difficult to determine which type of system is more beneficial for todays homeowner.

Electric heating for the entire home isnt usually considered quite as efficient as whole home natural gas or oil systems, but the technology does seem to be catching up. Electric home heat is generally easier to install and initially less expensive because there is no boiler or furnace required to burn a fossil fuel. Electric heaters look very much like the baseboard heaters that are hooked to forced water systems but are connected by copper wire directly to your homes electrical service panel. Electrical heaters can be operated from a thermostat as well and when heat is required the electricity provided by your service panel will heat a coil inside of the baseboard unit to deliver heat to that particular room.

With electric baseboard heaters you can add extra heat to an already existing heating systems of another type, provided that you have the space required in your panel board to supply the necessary power. Electric baseboard heaters are a great way to add heat to a finished basement, attic or attached garage that had no heat before because they require no piping or duct work for installation – it may not be easy to run the wire necessary to make the connection, but its generally much easier to run pliable wire that it is to run rigid pipe or ducts.

Three different types of systems, working in different ways, all to deliver exactly the same results, its up to you to decide which system (or which combination of systems) may work the best to suit your particular home heating needs.

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