What Makes a Comfortable and Healthy Home?
When you’re sitting at home wishing you could be a little more comfortable, the solution seems easy — just take a stroll over to the thermostat and adjust the setting to the temperature you want, and boom, your home is comfortable again. But you already know it isn’t the thermostat alone that is keeping your home comfortable, it is actually a series of connected systems that all contribute to your home’s temperature and interior air quality!
As the trusted experts for indoor air quality testing, improved comfort, and home weatherization in Nashville, TN, here is what E3 INNOVATE wants you to know about how the health and comfort of your home are all connected, from the crawlspace all the way up to the attic.
The Whole Home Philosophy
As we just mentioned, it isn’t just one system that keeps your home comfortable. Sure, your furnace may provide the heat you need in the winter, but if that heat is allowed to escape through inefficiencies that exist in your home’s construction, even the most energy efficient residential HVAC system will lose its energy bill reducing qualities.
If you can increase the effectiveness of the barrier between your indoor living space and the unconditioned outdoors, there will be less need to rely on your heating and cooling equipment throughout all four of Tennessee’s seasons. Plus, this can lead to an improvement in your indoor air quality! So, what are the best ways to do this? Upgrading your insulation, air sealing your home, and crawlspace encapsulation!
Why Insulate?
Insulation slows down the heat that wants to transfer between your walls, roof, and floors to the outdoors. During the winter, insulation keeps the heat from your furnace from escaping outside, and during the summer it prevents the scorching sun from penetrating your nice and cool home. Plus, when you trust a Nashville insulation company to insulate your existing walls, it can prevent indoor drafts from happening when the temperature differences between rooms cause the existing heat to search for cooler temperatures (this is why insulating your attic can help reduce a drafty feeling house). Heat will always move from warmer areas to colder areas.
The Importance of Residential Home Air Sealing
Air sealing and insulation are two sides of the same coin. As insulation works to prevent heat transfer, air sealing prevents air movement. By sealing up all the tiny air leaks and gaps that exist in the recessed lighting, doors, windows, fixtures, and other hidden areas of your home, outdoor air will stay where it belongs — outside. This further stabilizes indoor temperatures, while also preventing outside contaminants, allergens, and pollutants from impacting your indoor air quality.
Foundation of Comfort and Health: Crawlspace Encapsulation
We’ve been talking a lot about the indoor living space, so what could the crawlspace possibly do to keep a home more comfortable? A lot more than you might think. The crawlspace is (literally) the foundation of your home, and at E3 INNOVATE this is where we like to start when it comes to increasing the comfortability and health of a house.
Our crawlspace encapsulation process includes insulating and air sealing the crawlspace by using a vapor barrier on the ground and sealing up the walls using a spray foam insulation material. We also seal and insulate any ductwork, and look for any holes to seal up in the sub floor. This is to bring the crawlspace into a semi-conditioned state, so that it does not affect the temperature of your living space. Plus, it prevents harmful gases like radon from threatening your breathing air.
Comfort and Health: Connecting the Dots
In order to maintain a healthy and comfortable home here in Nashville’s humid southern climate, it requires looking at the entire home as a system. By connecting the dots using the home performance upgrades we just discussed, you can experience the following benefits:
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Keep indoor humidity at an optimal level
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Stabilize indoor temperatures
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Increase indoor air quality
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Reduce heating and cooling costs
The more effective your insulation, air sealing, and the rest of what is called the “building envelope”, the greater control you will have over the moisture and temperature in your home. The less moisture in your living space, the less risk of experiencing the health symptoms of mold in your house and the better your air quality. The greater control over temperature, the less need to run your heating and cooling systems throughout the year. It is all connected!
The Healthy Home Assessment Nashville, TN Homeowners Need
If you are wondering how to test for air quality in your home, are looking for an indoor air quality test near you, an independent HVAC consultant near you, or an insulation contractor in Nashville, TN to address your home comfort and air quality needs, sign up for an energy audit with E3 INNOVATE. Our energy audit is an in-depth look at your current home performance, with the goal of outlining a clear path to sustainable comfort and health in your home.