Loft Insulation – How Much Insulation Is Enough for Your Roof?

Loft insulation is instrumental in maintaining comfort in your home and keeping utility bills in check despite the fact that whether you are living in a warmer climatic zone or a northern cool climatic zone. That means, if as a homeowner you are concerned about mounting energy bills and limiting wastage of heat, this home insulation treatment is necessary. But not only absence of insulation in the roof results in potential heat loss and energy loss, also the insufficiency of it.

Most of the homeowners are aware of the benefits of loft insulation, but are mostly oblivious about the degree of sufficiency in which this insulation has to be installed. The ideal thickness of roof insulation that ensures optimal performance is 270mm thickness or 10.5 inches which is recommended by the government.

Another way to measure adequacy of loft insulation is measuring R-value of insulation materials used. The houses in warmer climate region should consist of roof insulation having an R-38 whereas the houses in colder regions must install loft insulation having R-49. The higher the R-value, the higher resistance is toward heat conduct and better insulation proven to be.

Good level of home insulation at the roof area in the cold weather or regions act like a hat on your house and protects from entry of cold air into the house. Therefore, it also reduces the load on the heating systems. Likewise, an effective layer of loft insulation is also instrumental in preventing scorching heat to enter through the attic in the house and thus, lowers the load on air-conditioning system of the houses in the hot climatic zones.

Before you install loft insulation in this recommended level of thickness, your house must be tightly sealed. Therefore, search for the small openings or cracks between the attic and the living room with either expanding foam or caulk. Hiring an insulation installer will be the best choice if you decide to use cellulose or fibreglass insulation or fitting insulation in an inaccessible area. Professional and registered installers have expertise to access to the difficult area and handle wires and cables in the roof area while fitting insulation.