Affordable Attic Insulation by Gulf Coast Insulation Inc.
Have us check your homes attic before the cold weather sets in and reinsulate today before the price increase April 1st. 2013
Our affordable blown in attic insulation services is one way to markedly enhance the effectiveness of a home’s insulation conveniently and affordable is by providing the home with a better insulating “seal. ”This is the reason “retro-fitting” a home’s existing insulation is growing in popularity.
It has long been known that many otherwise well insulated homes, and buildings were poorly sealed or had become poorly sealed as they were modified and aged. And that the lack of a proper seal was a leading cause of air leakage in and out of homes, and buildings.
Approximately 40% of all air leaks are in your attic. Uninsulated exterior walls can account for around 15%. This air leakage results in wasted energy, and other moisture problems in most building and homes. But only recently has it become possible to address this problem without significant and costly renovations.
Today, Gulf Coast Insulation professionals can identify the areas of greatest need and propose a cost-effective, GREEN friendly resolution that will help increase the air-quality and efficiency of your home. (Even small improvements to a building’s insulation can add up to big savings over time.) Contact Gulf Coast Insulation today with any questions and “insulate now….save later!
Gulf Coast Insulation is the way to cut your utility bills and save Money$$
What are the benefits of blown-in insulation's?
In the summer, radiant heat accounts for 93% of the heat gain in your home. Attic insulation is one of the most important things to look for to upgrade the energy-efficiency of your home. Blown-in insulation's are made of any number of different materials including fiber glass, rock wool and cellulose. The one thing they have in common is that they are all fed into a pneumatic blowing machine and blown under high pressure through a long flexible hose into attics and walls. There are three main types of blown-in insulation's: fiberglass, rock wool and cellulose. "NEW" Owens Corning PROPINK L77 insulation is the most popular and preferred material among homeowners and building contractors. O.C. materials become an excellent thermal blanket, leaving no nook or cranny exposed for the cold to escape or heat to enter. They help to save energy and make a home more comfortable. Most blown-in insulation, including the ones we use, will maintain their R-values for the life of a home. Some other types of materials can settle over the years, therefore losing some of their thermal efficiency.
Blown-in insulation's have several benefits. The major one is that they offer completely uniform coverage especially in hard-to-reach areas. They also can be blown into areas that a do-it-yourself installer cannot reach. In addition, they can be installed in any thickness and density to achieve practically any desired R-value. R-value is the measure of an insulation material's resistance to heat flow, the higher the R-value the greater the insulating power. In Houston it is recommended that an equivalent of at least an R-30 (10.25") or for best results an R-38-R-44 (12.75 to 16.75) thick layer to be applied.
Gulf Coast Insulationuses high quality Owens Corning & Certainteed products. Remember...R-Value is our Quality!
The effects of heat transfer is better understood by viewing the illustration below. The hot air in the attic radiates down into the living space if there is no insulation to keep it in the attic.
How insulation works is better understood by viewing the illustration below. The hot air in the attic is vented through vents while the cold air indoors is reflected back from the ceiling.
With tucked in sheets of insulation it is impossible to achieve a perfect seal, installation can quickly become a mess if the attic has wires, pipes running around it and it also often ends in damaged ceiling or drywall. Haphazard installations are frequent due to painfully tight & dark spaces in the attic frustrating installers and prompting them to cut corners as the below picture demonstrates.
Seeing the above table you can easily realize that your investment in insulating your attic will pay itself off in a couple of years based on current energy costs, something that will surely rise in the foreseeable future making your initial investment pay for itself even faster. On top of the obvious savings in your Electric bill you will also extend the life of your A/C unit's compressor as it will not have to turn on and off that frequently.
How do I evaluate my attic insulation?
This section of the web site is for the professional and individual who want more than a cursory understanding of insulation problems. More specifically it is for the remodeling contractor, HVAC technician, professional home inspector, and the truly interested homeowner. It is much more technical in nature than the rest of the web site, so people can make informed decisions about attic insulation.
As you will quickly learn, there is more to an attic inspection than simply sticking a poking ones head into an attic and taking a peak. We will show the areas where we routinely find problems and then explain proper repair methods.
The inspection
The best way to determine if you have enough insulation is to inspect it. This can only be done in the attic. Gulf Coast Insulation can provide the information and insights to make a thorough inspection and determination, if you need more attic insulation.
Attic Inspection
Insulation tapering down to bare sheet rock
Gulf Coast Insulation truck & hopper
How much insulation or R-value do I need?
The majority of blueprints for new construction either call for an R-30 to R-60 Fiberglass batt manufacturers typically sell batts for attics at either an R-30 or R-38 to R-44 value. This is why these are standard R-values we see specified on blueprints for remodels and new construction.
The International Energy Conservation Code calls for an R-30 to R-44 in the southwest communities and an R-60 in Northern states. These R-values are adequate. It is our opinion that if a house in Houston area has asphalt shingles, we’d recommend an R-38 to R-50 in these attics run so much hotter than tile roofs.
At Gulf Coast Insulation we believe that a quality installation is the key to realizing specified R-value. Just because a builder, an attic card stating R-values or a set of blue prints say and attic has an R-30 or R-38, doesn’t mean that is what a house really has. We do not insulate track homes or cut any corners. The key is to make sure you got what you paid for, be it an R-30 or an R-60 and this is why the inspection process is so important. The common problems we outline in this section of the web site are the thermal defects that erode your R-value, efficiency and comfort. We install blown insulation (only Owens Corning Fiberglass ProPink L77 & AttiCat Insulation).
Why is quality of work so important?
The lack of quality control and meaningful inspections has made quality attic work the exception and not the rule. Quality “installation” of the insulation material is critical to achieving the rated R-value.
One of the key things to remember when inspecting attic insulation is that what appears to be a small insulation problem, what we refer to as a thermal defect, can have a disproportionate impact on R-value.
Pause for a moment and ask yours elf the following question. What is the impact on R-value when the attic has five percent missing insulation? The answer to this question is crucial to understanding why quality is so important in insulation.
A simple example is a 2000 square foot house with 5% or 100 square feet of missing insulation. The question is how much does a five percent missing insulation impact the overall R-value of the attic? The impact is huge. The R-value is degraded by 50%.
Do I have access to inspect?
To perform an insulation inspection you need to have access into the attic. Some homes have a combination of areas that are difficult to access and other areas that are wide open. It is common to see the tight areas insulated with fiberglass batts and the open areas blown because it is less expensive to blow an attic than it is to batt it.
There are also “Ranch” style homes, contemporary homes with flat roofs and certain types of vaults that do not permit any access for inspection. These are the types of attics that we recommend beginning with an infrared scan and an evaluation of your utility bill, if you suspect a problem. If there are problems they can be fixed, but these types of repairs are often much more costly than conventional attics.
ENERGY STAR qualified homes are at least 15 percent more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC). Call today and let us make an efficient attic for you and start saving on your light bill.
Any home three stories or less can earn the ENERGY STAR label if it has been verified to meet EPA's guidelines for energy efficiency. This includes site-constructed homes, attached or detached homes, single or low-rise multi-family residential buildings, manufactured homes, systems-built (e.g., SIP or modular) and log homes, existing homes, or retrofitted homes.
ENERGY STAR qualified homes achieve energy savings through established, reliable building technologies. Builders work with Home Energy Raters to select from a number of features when planning and building homes.
U.S. Department of Energy Recommended* Total R-Values for New Houses in Six Climate Zones
* These recommendations are cost-effective levels of insulation based on the best available information on local fuel and materials costs and weather conditions. Consequently, the levels may differ from current local building codes. In addition, the apparent fragmentation of the recommendations is an artifact of these data and should not be considered absolute minimum requirements.
R-18, R-22, and R-28 exterior wall systems can be achieved by either cavity insulation or cavity insulation with insulating sheathing. For 2 in. x 4 in. walls, use either 3½ in. thick R-15 or 3½ in. thick R-13 fiber glass insulation with insulating sheathing. For 2 in. x 6 in. walls, use either 5½ in. thick R-21 or 6¼ in. thick R-19 fiber glass insulation.
Insulate crawl space walls only if the crawl space is dry all year, the floor above is not insulated, and all ventilation to the crawl space is blocked. A vapor retarder (e.g., 4- or 6-mil polyethylene film) should be installed on the ground to reduce moisture migration into the crawl space.
No slab edge insulation is recommended.
Properly installed, climate-appropriate insulation in floors, walls, and attics ensures even temperatures throughout the house, less energy consumption, and increased comfort.
Gulf Coast Insulation & Roofing. can perform all the energy saving improvements in your home or building including: affordable Insulation, wall insulation, roof repairs, re roofing, Certainteed shingles, roof venting, roof jacks, attic insulation Houston, Pro Pink blown-in insulation, radiant barrier Houston, sprayed radiant barrier, foil radiant barrier, attic ventilation Houston, insulation Sugar Land, wall insulation, Houston, patio doors, sun screens Houston, solar sun screens Houston, and Owens Corning L77 Insulation. Attic Insulation Houston, Insulation Removal, Old Insulation Removal, Efficient Attic Services.
Houston | Sugar Land | Stafford | Mo. City | Richmond | Katy | Memorial | Bellaire | Cypress | Tomball | Spring | Spring Branch | Pearland | Friendswood | Galleria Area | West Houston | Woodlands | Fulsher | Wharton | Needville | West University | Memorial - Villages | Meadows Place | Rosenberg | Clear Lake | Alvin | Pasadena | Houston Texas
If you are looking to insulate your attic, or searching for an attic insulation contractor, roof contractor, roofing installer, roofing repairs, attic insulation ,attic insulation removal, attic clean up, Heat Block radiant barrier, Attic Breeze Solar Fans, radiant barrier contractor, insulation in attic, fiberglass insulation, foam insulation, roof insulation, or radiant barrier installer anywhere in the Greater Houston & Fort Bend County area - you have arrived at the right place. Affordable attic insulation Services Houston & Fort Bend are should be your last stop, we treat your home like ours, pay less for insulation and get more.
Gulf Coast Insulation& Roofing' Local281-564-5432 orToll Free 1-888-83-ATTIC Send Comments, Questions and Requests to: atticpros@aol.com
ttic Inspection
