Insulation can help to keep the heat inside your house during the winter and keep it out during the summer months. And this can help to reduce the energy bills in your Texas home. According to Energy.gov, you should be insulating on several levels of your home.
In the attic, you should insulate unfinished attic spaces, between the studs and knee walls, between studs and rafters, and ceilings with cold areas overhead.
Next, you should insulate exterior walls – and this includes those walls between the living spaces and storage areas, unheated garages, and shed roofs – in addition to foundation walls.
Floor insulation is also important, and unheated garage and central crawl spaces should certainly be insulated, as should band joists.
Is liquid insulation right for your home?
There are a variety of insulation types. However, could liquid insulation be right for your home? “Liquid insulation is a reflective paint-like liquid that can be applied to the interior or exterior of a home or building to help improve comfort,” explains Julio Daniel Hernadez, CEO of EnLight.Energy in Austin, Texas, which provides home energy monitoring, energy efficiency upgrades and solar power production.
“We highly recommend it for any area that is currently uncomfortable where it is extremely hard or impossible to add traditional insulation,” Hernandez says. “Homeowners can expect the same level of comfort improvement that they would receive from upgrading their insulation.” And, he says it’s as easy to apply as two coats of paint.
One problem with traditional insulation is trying to apply it behind the walls of existing homes. No one likes going into walls because there’s no telling what may be behind them. Hernandez says that insulating paints are an alternative when traditional installation methods are not feasible. They help conserve energy, and reduce electric bills. In addition, insulating paints can dampen noise.
The jury appears to be out on the effectiveness of liquid insulation in the form of paint. According to a Bob Villa article, two studies show insulating paint did not provide much of a benefit over regular paint.
But another study found that Insuladd paint on a home’s exterior, when fully exposed to the sun, could reduce heat gain by 20%. However, there are other factors that must be taken into consideration as well. For example, the house must be facing the sun and the heat gain reduction identified in the study does not apply to interior walls.
