Your home probably has insulation already installed, whether it was put in during initial construction or as part of a renovation. Unfortunately, that insulation may not be doing a good job of controlling the temperature of your home.

You may want to improve the insulation in your home in order to lower your utility bills or reduce your carbon footprint. Fortunately, you can improve the insulation in your home in several easy ways.

Improving Home Insulation: First Steps

Improving home insulation is not a difficult process. However, before you begin, you will need to assess the quality of your current insulation and locate areas that could be improved.

Many contractors, as well as some energy companies, offer energy audits. These audits involve a walk through of your home and an examination of the main areas of concern, including:

• Attic/ceiling
• Doors
• Ductwork
• Hot water tank
• Plumbing
• Walls
• Windows.

After the walk through, the contractor can give you recommendations on ways to improve on the areas of concern. He may also be able to offer tips on how to take advantage of tax incentives and government funding that might be available to people who improve the efficiency of their homes.

Seal Leaks

Drafts around windows, doors and other areas make it harder to maintain your home’s temperature. Reducing air leakage in these places is an important step in improving your home’s insulation.

Areas to check for drafts and leaks include:

• Doors
• Ductwork
• Electrical outlets and circuit breaker boxes
• Exhaust vents
• Plumbing
• Windows.

To seal leaks in these areas, use weather stripping, caulk, spray insulation foam or other material.

Reducing drafts around windows, doors and other areas is useful, but you should also be sure to check for leaks in your attic, foundation, basement or crawlspace. Reducing air leaks in these areas can significantly improve your home’s energy efficiency.

While sealing leaks is important, you will also want to make sure that your home is not sealed too tightly, as good air circulation is important for maintaining indoor air quality. Be sure to test for carbon monoxide and other contaminants after you’ve completed your work.

Add Insulation

After you’ve checked for and sealed all the leaks in your home, you can begin thinking about adding additional insulation. Areas where you may want to add insulation include:

• Attic
• Basement
• Walls
• Windows.

You will be able to add insulation to many of these areas yourself. For example, if your attic is unfinished, you can purchase fiberglass batts or rolls and install it yourself.

Improving wall insulation is a bit more complicated. In these situations, blown-in, loose-fill insulation or spray insulation foam can help fill openings in finished walls or oddly shaped spaces. While you may be able to do simple upgrades of this type yourself, you may need to hire a contractor for more complicated jobs.