As long as you’re blowing leaves and caulking around windows this fall, put one more chore on your to-do list: Add some attic insulation.
The time to get your home in shape for heating season is early fall, long before you need to turn the heat on.
If your attic doesn’t have enough insulation—or if, over the years, it has come loose—it won’t keep your home’s comfy, heated air from pouring out through the roof.
Heat rises, so the warm air in your home wafts upward to your attic. Without proper insulation, it winds up outdoors. In fact, your home probably
loses more heat through the attic than anywhere else. So poke your head up into your attic. Do you see bare patches on the attic floor or ceiling, where insulation is missing? Is insulation drooping in spots?
Insulation can’t do its job if it isn’t touching the surface it’s meant to insulate. So hire a handyman to reattach and add insulation up there. Or do this yourself; it’s a pretty simple job. Instructions can be found at TogetherWeSave.com.
A bonus: A properly insulated attic also will stop cool, air-conditioned air from escaping through the roof during the summer.
