What You Need to Know about Attic Insulation

The attic can be a dark, musty, cobwebbed place in your home that your imaginative kids can turn into their private ghost hunting ground. In the absence of paranormal beings, your attic can also serve as storage for things you can’t bear to part with but have no use for anymore. And here’s another thing about your attic: It could be the source of your skyrocketing energy bills.

image :ventwerx.com

Did you know that heating and cooling make up 50 to 70 percent of the average American home’s energy usage? Did you also know that 25 percent of heat loss happens through the roof and attic? When your home isn’t properly insulated and air leakage occurs, your home is wasting precious energy and costing you a tidy sum. This is why you need to get attic insulation.

Insulating your attic will help you save money on energy bills. It’ll allow your home to maintain a comfortable temperature, all year round. The insulation will also ensure that your heating and cooling systems are never overworked, which means you’ll be able to use them for a very long time.

While there are insulation materials you can install on your own, like the blanket insulation, nothing beats the workmanship and guarantee of a professionally done job. So start looking up professional installers of insulation in your neck of the woods. You’ll want to hire a service provider that’s an expert in heating and cooling requirements, and one that may also offer you AC repair, vent cleaning, and furnace replacement or installation, when you need it.

A company that can do both professional heating and cooling services will indicate expertise and experience. This guarantees you peace of mind because then you’ll know the insulation installer will execute a good job and you won’t have to worry about replacements or do-overs.

A service provider of this caliber will also do more than just pick the right insulation for your home and area. It will also do the necessary inspections to make sure that your attic is leak proof. Air leaks may be sealed through radiant barrier, which reportedly lowers cooling costs by 5 to 10 percent, placed between the insulation and the attic.

But just because you’ve got a professional installer (that also does furnace installation and AC installation) working on your insulation, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to learn a few things about it. You should try to learn about the R-value of your insulation. A high R-value indicates that your insulation will be more effective. The North American Insulation Manufacturer’s Association provides the recommended R-value for homes so you may want to check that out. Alternately, make sure to choose a reliable insulation installer so that you’re guaranteed to get the right R-value for your attic’s insulation.

About the author: Hi I'm Kenneth Lawrence, a passionate "handyman". My craft involves DIY concepts and would like to share guidelines and tips about stuffs on home improvement. I write and read almost anything that can hone my skills and increase my knowledge about DIY concepts. I keep myself updated about the latest home improvement tips by visiting sites like http://www.ventwerx.com/attic-insulation/.

A Little Carnival

I saw this little carnival during our car ride back home from my husband’s hometown. Sorry, I don’t know the name and the purpose of the carnival. 

Nice to find many yellow touches. Kids were sitting on the back of four interesting 'creatures' which each were lifted by four men in yellow outfit. The traditional music was played by real people on the open vehicle –at the back of the row.

Monday Mellow Yellows

Effective Ways New Homeowners Can Protect Their Homes from Pests

Homeowners who want to protect the financial investment they have made by purchasing their new home should be proactive when it comes to doing some basic pest control on their own. Few things can put a quicker damper on the excitement of new homeownership than realizing that your home is a magnet for all sorts of creepy-crawly insects that make living there less enjoyable. It doesn't cost a lot of time or money to implement some effective steps that will protect a home from an unwelcome invasion of pests.

Termite control should be among the number one priorities for new homeowners. One of the easiest ways to prevent your home from looking attractive to hoards of termites is to eliminate any piles of wood or mounds of dirt adjacent to the house which serve as the perfect breeding ground for these destructive pests. All exterior wood on the house should be treated in some fashion such as painted or finished. This will also make your house look less appealing to termites looking for a place to set up house keeping.

The amount of space that outdoor pests need to gain entry into a house is surprisingly small. Take a walk around your property, both from the exterior as well as the interior and notice even the smallest cracks or holes that could serve as an entry point for bees, termites, ants or rodents. Then get to work sealing these entry points shut. Pay particular attention to air vents and crawl spaces which can inadvertently allow pests to start living in hidden spaces in your house.

On a regular basis, homeowners should make it a habit to look up under the eaves of the roof to check to see if wasps have begun building a nest there. Wasps and hornets also like to build their nests on the underside of outdoor picnic tables as well as inside barbecue grills that have been dormant. So it's important to be vigilant that all of these areas don't attract swarms of unwelcome flying pests.

It's a good idea to make it a rule in your new home to keep food and beverage consumption confined to the kitchen and dining room or outside patio areas. Even just a few crumbs in the living room or bedroom can send out a signal to ants, rodents and flies that there is a free dinner awaiting them inside your house. If despite all of your efforts to protect your home, pests are still posing a problem, don't hesitate to get professional pest control assistance. The earlier that exterminators and termite control experts discover an infestation, the quicker it takes to eradicate the problem and prevent future invasions.

 

Dancing Skeletons

 

One skeleton looking at me!

A man with his dancing skeletons. It looked easy for him to make the skeletons moving -following the music. You can hire them for your Halloween party : )

It's a pity that only a few people who watching the performance at that time. Other people preferred to watch a magical show nearby.

The Weekend in Black and White

An Amazing Container House in Japan

It's always interesting to see an unusual approach to interior design, and when that's paired with innovative techniques in constructing the house itself the results can be breathtaking...such is the case with this amazing Japanese home constructed from shipping containers.

This four story house is located on the shoreline of one of Japan's outlying islands, offering panoramic views across the pacific from a rooftop patio and many windows that can be flung open to let in fresh sea breezes during the summer months.

Of particular interest is the beautiful bathroom, featuring a cast iron bath from Drummonds of England, along with traditional shower, sink and WC fittings. The combination of Victorian-era design combined with an ultra-modern approach to home construction (and simply amazing views) shows off both the best of old and new to great effect.