Non-Energy Benefits of Upgraded Wall Insulation

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Wall insulation can make your home more comfortable and quieter, reduce the risk of moisture damage, enhance fire safety, make your home more disaster-resistant, and help guard against pipe freezing.

Well-insulated walls can provide many sorts of benefits in addition to saving energy.

Well-insulated walls will make your home more comfortable by buffering your home against high outside temperatures in summer and cold temperatures in winter.

Well-insulated walls can also help minimize uncomfortable drafts and make your home quieter by blocking outdoor noise.

Properly installed insulation also helps to seal your home against unwanted air leakage (sometimes known as "infiltration"). By helping to reduce unwanted infiltration, the likelihood of moisture problems is also reduced. Moisture can be introduced into walls, floors, or ceiling cavities by outside weather conditions (humidity or precipitation) as well as indoor sources of moisture (people, showers, cooking, etc.) If the moisture meets cold surfaces along the way it can condense and invite mold growth or moisture damage problems.

Well-insulated walls can improve fire safety in several ways. Air leakage can supply outside air that helps to nourish fires, and uneven (or missing) insulation can provide channels within walls through which fires can spread. The use of approved products and installation practices (e.g. electrical safety measures) must be observed to guard against insulation-related fires.

Another benefit of well-insulated homes is that during power outages, your home can remain comfortable and habitable longer than the ordinary home. This can help lower the costs of relocation often faced by people during power outages caused by major storms and other natural disasters.

Proper wall insulation can reduce the risk of freeze damage to water pipes running inside the walls by insulating the pipes from the elements.

Thermally "massive" (e.g. concrete) and well-insulated walls also offer many of the above-mentioned benefits, in addition to helping take advantage of solar energy gains.