Many of us dream of building our own energy efficient home that will lower our bills and help the environment. For those that decide to actually plan and execute such a project, there are many challenges ahead. Having a solid plan for your new energy efficient home is key, but there is one area that is often overlooked and that is the attic. Believe it or not, effectively planning how the attic in your build is going to be used and treated could make or break your project. Here are three key things to consider when building your new energy efficient home.
1. Getting the Best Bang for Your Buck
Many people in the current world climate need to be focussed on the getting the best bang for their buck in most situations. This is especially true when you are building a home that is going to be energy efficient. We want to save money on bills in the months and years to come, but we also need to use our money in the most effective ways possible. It is all too easy to be drawn into installing the latest energy saving gadget, but the significant savings are going to be made if you adopt what is known as the “whole house approach.” It will be necessary to use every effort to get the best reduction in energy used that you can afford on your budget. One of the areas in your home that will give the best energy benefit for the money spent will be your attic.
2. Why is the Attic so Important?
The attic is a passive space that can really affect the energy efficiency of your home dramatically. According to studies carried out in this field, poor attic insulation is one of the primary causes of excessive energy consumption in the residential sector. Taking action by improving the ventilation and insulation in your attic will probably have the biggest effect in energy efficiency terms. Following this logic, it would be prudent to make this a priority over other areas in your home that would have a less dramatic impact.
3. Checking the Attic Regularly
Once the attic has been correctly insulated and the ventilation has been improved it is important to check it periodically. It is possible to do this yourself, and there are many guides available online that detail the process of measuring how much insulation you need. This can also be easily carried out by a professional heating and cooling contractor for far more accurate results. If you want to understand exactly how well your home is performing in terms of energy efficiency, it could be a good idea to carry out an audit. This will give you a great deal of detail and highlight areas where any improvements could be made.
As you can see, we are lucky to be living in an era where such dramatic improvements can be made to our homes. Installing energy efficient HVAC systems, using power responsibly and adopting a few lifestyle changes can all help. Hopefully, you will now add your attic to this list and carefully consider how installing the correct insulation, and ventilation there can make your home more energy efficient.