Level of Insulation in Wall Can Influence Your Energy Bill

Buying a home is one of the most important and expensive investment you would ever make. Once you buy the house, it becomes your responsibility to maintain it, repair it, and pay the bills. Therefore, it becomes necessary that you learn the most about the house you are in the process of buying. One of the important things you need to know during your interior home checking is the level of insulation in the wall.

Ensure that the brick wall is solid and in good condition. Look to see whether there are any holes, cracks or marks on the wall. These need to be rectified at the earliest. The hole needs to be blocked with another brick, and the cracks need to be properly repaired. Look at the condition of the paint. Does the paint look too old? The house must regularly get a new coat of paint. Check with the seller when the house was painted last. You can always ask that the house be repainted if you are not satisfied with the paint. Under normal circumstances, the sellers always give a new coat of paint, internally and externally, before putting the house on the market.



House Walls and Insulation

Many pre-1950 houses did not have insulated walls. Today, all houses are built with the recommended minimum levels of insulation. If not, the heat loss through the walls and other places would be very large, and the homeowner would be paying a huge bill for energy. The house you are considering buying will probably have the minimum recommended insulation level. Depending on when that house was built, the insulation levels may not be sufficient, considering the energy prices today.

Your home inspector should be specifically asked to check the level of insulation in the walls. It is not that easy. The presence of insulation could be checked by probing the space between the wall and an electric outlet. Alternately, the inspector can make a small hole in some unobtrusive place, such as in a closet or behind a couch, to see what, if anything, the wall cavity is filled with. This method, however, cannot tell the level of insulation in the walls.

The presence of insulation can also be checked by probing the openings in the top plates of exterior walls in the attic. In this way, the inspector will be able to determine the thickness of the insulation. If the thickness is less than an inch, it is a good idea to add to the insulation. This is best done by a professional who can remove the siding and blow the insulation into the stud cavities, before fixing the siding back.