What can you do to your attic to decrease your heating bills?
The attic.
If you have one, it’s probably the part of your home that gets used the least. Sure, it is an excellent resource for storing all those holiday decorations and boxes of photos.
That being said, the attic – the room you enter less than any other – may be responsible for some extra charges on your heating bills.
The best way to lower your heating bill is to more or less make your home absolutely air tight. This means having up-to-date weather stripping, plugging any openings on your exterior walls (think plumbing and other pipes), and even sealing off the chimney when possible.
The biggest culprit preventing an airtight home is the attic. Virtually every surface in the attic, including the ceiling connects to an external wall. There are just so many opportunities for air to escape. In order to avoid this, it is absolutely imperative that you insulate your attic well.
Furthermore, even in an attic with proper insulation, it’s important to check the seal to the actual door. If there’s a crack in this entryway, it’ll effectively undermine all the other work the rest of the insulation is doing.
Another thing to consider is checking the ductwork in the attic. When looking for ways to seal the home, it can be easy to forget the piping running through there. In particular, make sure that the seams between multiple pieces and at corners are sealed. By some estimates, as much as 30 percent of the air in those systems can be lost due to improperly sealed ductwork.
