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Insulation is more than hot or cold, insulation can save you big bucks.
After fixing the issues with the new windows, (caulking really does seal out the air-duh) I decided to have someone look at the insulation in the attic inside my house. My Dad and I just weren’t sure about it having enough insulation. In some areas, it had more than enough insulation, but in other areas there just seemed to be very little insulation. Thankfully we did not have a very cold winter this year, so I didn’t worry too much about insulation and the source of the cold air was clearly from the windows not being caulked. But as the days heat up, honestly we go from cold to hot almost overnight in Texas, I know that I need to be sure that everything is working properly. Work smarter not harder!
I didn’t have a good contact for a local insulation company and after asking several other realtor friends for recommendations and experiencing the same issue as with some of my previous jobs…no one calls me back! So I decided to look online and roll the dice! There could be an entire post about contractors not calling you back, but since this post is about insulation I won’t go there but you can see my post on the Top Questions to Ask a Contractor for additional thoughts and tips on that subject! I looked on Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor.com and eventually went with Home Advisor to bid out my job. Within 10 minutes of asking for a bid, I had a call from a local company. He set a time to come out to take a look at my insulation needs, and even scheduled to come out on a weekend for me!
I quickly decided on this contractor after meeting with him and liking everything he said! They scheduled to do the install within a week and showed up on time, worked extremely hard and cleaned up after themselves! Impressed! He truly met all of my insulation needs and exceeded my expectations for the job! Finally a really good contractor! Whew!
Thankfully, when they began the job my Dad was able to be on site. They showed him where some major gaps had been in my duct work, where it connects to the system, and basically I have been heating and cooling my attic for 8 months! Nice. They fixed this issue and went ahead and added another layer of the patch to all of my duct connections while they were at it just to give an extra layer of protection – at No Extra Charge! Nice. They blew insulation for almost two hours according to the job site supervisor (aka Dear O’Dad). And he installed an attic door insulation kit (similar one can be found here to keep that area from costing me extra money with air going up/down! He relocated a duct, one that was installed over the middle of the attic door entrance (you know making it almost impossible to get anything up or down the attic)! This alone was a huge improvement!
Now, I know it is hard to get excited about insulation. But it is not hard to get excited about the savings I have already started to see each month on my electric and gas bills! I purposely waited to write this post until I had two months of bills to see if indeed there was going to be a savings. And literally this month alone the bill was half of the previous month. And last month was also an improvement. Now I can get behind this kind of savings! Not only is this one more thing that I know is fixed correctly and will pass inspection when I sell this house, but you can actually tell a big difference!
This house is getting smart.
One other note, we have had several 85 degree+ days recently and when we come into the house after the air conditioner being in Eco mode (we love our Nest thermostat) all day, it is still very pleasant and you really don’t have to rush to turn the air on. I know this was money well spent on insulating the house and with the Nest I know I am saving money as well!
This house was pretty dusty almost all the time. I mean I would clean on a Sunday and by Wednesday or Thursday, you really could not tell that I had dusted or cleaned the furniture or floors. Honestly, it was kind of frustrating and I kept thinking it was just because it was an older home. Nope! It was because of the duct work and lack of quality insulation! Now, I can almost go two weeks if I need to between dustings! Yes, two weeks people! That is like giving me the gift of time! Time to work on other projects!
As we complete more projects on this house it is becoming more and more difficult to think about selling it. On one hand, we really have had fun redoing this house and it is a really great house. But on the other hand, it sure would be nice to make a profit from this house and do it all over again on another one! So in true form and fashion of acting like my Mother, I find myself saying, “I just love this house!” Although she usually says this about cars and not houses, it still fits here people! Work with me! But right now today, I just don’t know what we will do. Too soon to say I guess. Although the list gets still have plenty of projects on the to-do list, but the end is in sight!