Even if your house feels draft-free and cozy, you may be losing a lot of heat needlessly. The right insulation, in the right places, can save 20% or more on heating costs.
But you needn’t go to great expense to gain big benefits. A great deal of heat is lost not directly through the walls, as we imagine, but by the movement of air behind the walls. Cold air comes in around the bottom perimeter of the house – sometimes called the band joist or rim joist – where the walls rest on the foundation, and travels upward to the attic through a kind of chimney effect. In the process, it takes heat from the basement and all the outside rooms. Sealing the band joist and insulating the attic can pay for itself in just a few years.
But you needn’t go to great expense to gain big benefits. A great deal of heat is lost not directly through the walls, as we imagine, but by the movement of air behind the walls. Cold air comes in around the bottom perimeter of the house – sometimes called the band joist or rim joist – where the walls rest on the foundation, and travels upward to the attic through a kind of chimney effect. In the process, it takes heat from the basement and all the outside rooms. Sealing the band joist and insulating the attic can pay for itself in just a few years.
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