Does Your Home Have Enough Attic Insulation?

Attic Insulation Installation Tulsa

When it comes to improving your home's efficiency, don't forget about the attic. Experts calculate that leaks in the attic floor can drain away 30 to 50 percent of your heating or cooling.Heat rises upward and migrates through cracks into the unconditioned attic space, eventually escaping through the roof or vents. In the summer, a hot attic and uninsulated attic floor can make it more difficult for you to cool your home, as heat moves through conductivity into the living space.What's the solution? In most cases, more attic insulation will do the trick.

Adding Insulation

Start your attic sealing project by identifying the various areas where energy is being lost. Lay wooden planks across joists to walk on before you start moving around.

1. Check for gaps around fixtures, pipes, wires, ducts and anything else that enters the attic space from the living space. Roll back existing insulation batts to get at all the holes; if you have loose-fill insulation, it might be better to get a professional to locate the leaks. Fix all the smaller leaks you find with caulk. For holes up to an inch wide, use expanding urethane foam. For still larger holes, use a piece of drywall to plug it, sealing edges with foam. You can also use fiberglass insulation.

2. Seal gaps around stove flues and chimneys with a sheet metal collar and heat-resistant caulk, separating these structures from insulation.

3. Put extra insulation on top of the attic hatch door. Place weather stripping around the edges of the hatch.

4. Next, check to see if the insulation on your attic floor reaches the top of the joists. If not, add more to the top or over the joists. Make sure it is evenly distributed, and reaches the sides of the attic.

5. Insulate behind knee walls.

6. Build airtight boxes with rigid foam insulation to cover recessed lighting canisters. Get professional advice about how any insulation you are considering might overheat when used in proximity to the lighting canisters.

To learn more about attic insulation, contact Air Assurance of Broken Arrow.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about attic insulation and other HVAC topics, call us at 918-217-8273. Credit/Copyright Attribution: “travellight/Shutterstock”

How an HVAC Zone Control System Can Save You Money This Summer

Does your family fight the Thermostat Wars? One side thinks it's too hot and turns down the thermostat. The other thinks it's too cold and turns it up again. It's a long, drawn-out battle that can last all summer — and drive your energy bills up in the process. Fortunately, HVAC zone control lets everyone in the house have their ideal temperature without disturbing anyone else or wasting energy.

What Is HVAC Zone Control?

There are several reasons for Thermostat Wars. The first is biology. On average, women prefer temperatures around 77 degrees, while men prefer temperatures around 71 degrees. The other reason is physics. Heat rises, so if you have multiple stories, the top floors will be hotter than the ground level. Likewise, if one side of the house gets direct sunlight, there will be a significant temperature difference.

HVAC zone control splits the house into zones according to their individual temperature needs. Then, each zone gets its own thermostat that the occupant of that zone can set to his or her preference. If one zone is warmer, the system sends more air there. If another is cooler, air is diverted from that zone. This way, everybody's happy and comfortable.

How HVAC Zone Control Saves Money

While a regular HVAC unit blows full blast all the time, your HVAC zone control system uses a variable-speed air handlerto control the amount of air each room gets. Only giving each area what it needs ensures no air or energy is wasted.

You can also set which rooms are occupied at any given time. If the whole family is downstairs, you can turn off the upstairs zones, saving air and money. You can even program the thermostat according to your sleep schedule. The living room gets more air during the day, but at night, that zone turns off and the bedrooms get the air instead, thus saving money and bringing a peaceful end to the Thermostat Wars once and for all.

To install an HVAC zone control system in your home, contact us at Air Assurance. We provide energy-efficient home-comfort solutions to the Broken Arrow area.

What is a Humidifier's Role in Curing a Cough?

Many people instinctively plug in humidifiers to soothe and cure coughs. That may lead you to wonder if science agrees. So what does a humidifier do for a cough? Find out below.

Reason for Using Humidifiers for Respiratory Conditions

So, what does a humidifier do for a cough? Expert opinions vary on how exactly humidifiers ease coughs and cold symptoms. It is well known that dry air isn't good for coughing. Inhaling dry air may cause or worsen coughing. By adding moisture to your home's air, a humidifier can help relieve dry coughing during sleep.

Pediatricians often recommend using a humidifier at night to help children with an upper respiratory infection, which causes difficulty breathing, nasal congestion, and coughing that tend to worsen at night. While you may find a warm-mist humidifier to be the most soothing, it is safer to choose cool-mist humidifiers for kids to prevent them from sustaining burns if they get too close to the hot steam.

Dry air makes mucus more difficult to cough up or blow out. Humidifiers help moisturize your lung, throat, and nasal passages. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) suggests that by helping loosen mucus, a cool-mist humidifier can soothe coughs.

Humidification can help relieve coughs linked to bronchitis. However, it's not recommended for people with asthma-related coughs.

Tips for Using a Humidifier Effectively

For you to use a humidifier effectively and get the expected benefits when it comes to what does a humidifier do for a cough, you'll need to follow the manufacturer's instructions and the following tips:

• Use distilled water. Avoid essential oils and vaporubs, as they can release chemicals that can irritate the respiratory tract.

• Clean your humidifier regularly. A humidifier that's cleaned inappropriately can cause microbes to grow in the unit and be dispersed into your home's air. Clean your unit thoroughly every one to three days, and replace the filter every week.

• Monitor the humidity levels. Your home's humidity levels shouldn't exceed 50% to avoid mold and condensation problems.

Be sure to use your humidifier properly to help you breathe easier indoors. For top-quality humidifiers or other indoor air-quality products in the Broken Arrow area, and to learn more about what does a humidifier do for a cough, get in touch with the trusted professionals at Air Assurance.

What Level of Humidity Should Exist in Your Home?

Improper indoor humidity levels not only downgrade your comfort but also increase your chances of contracting diseases. Therefore, it's important to maintain the normal humidity level in a home.

What Level of Humidity Is Ideal for Your Home?

Generally, the ideal home humidity level for comfort and health should be between 30% and 50%. When your home's humidity level exceeds 50%, you'll feel uncomfortable. What's more, the increased moisture could lead to:

• Mold growth

• Condensation on toilet tanks and windows

• The decay of flooring, structural materials, and other surfaces in your home

A percentage below 30% is dry and can lead to:

• Sinus issues

• Dry skin

• Static electricity

At 5% or less, the air is excessively dry. It can cause:

• The peeling away of wallpaper

• Cracking or warping of building materials and wood furniture

The weather and seasons heavily influence the ideal amount of home humidity. Air can hold more moisture at high temperatures than at low temperatures. In the summer, a humidity range between 30% and 45% is ideal. During the winter, it's best to have your indoor humidity below 40%. Higher humidity levels in the winter can lead to condensation issues.

How Do You Maintain a Normal Humidity Level in a Home?

The best way to maintain a normal humidity level in a home throughout the year is by using a whole-home humidifierand dehumidifier. The systems work automatically with your HVAC system.

Use a humidifier in the winter when indoor humidity tends to linger around 15%. In the summer months, utilize a dehumidifier, as air naturally holds more water.

The normal humidity level in a home will have a significant effect on your health and comfort, as well as your energy bills, by decreasing your usage of your HVAC system. To learn more about the normal humidity level in a home, contact Air Assurance. Residents in the Broken Arrow area know they can count on us to help control indoor humidity and keep their heating and cooling systems running correctly.

What Are the Pros and Cons of an Electric Fireplace?

Is an electric fireplace a worthwhile home addition? Just more than 40% of recent new houses come with a fireplace, and a substantially higher percentage of homes built in the decades since the 1970s incorporate at least one fireplace.

Though not all standard fireplaces get the regular use they once did, many people still miss the appearance and comfort of a warming fire inside the house. An electric fireplace may provide a simpler, less labor-intensive alternative to the real thing. Here are some pros and cons of having an electric fireplace in your home. 

Pros

• Convenience. No need to obtain and/or store firewood and lug it into the house to build a fire. An electric fire starts with the flip of a switch, eliminating the sometimes difficult process of lighting a real fire. After enjoying the fire, just turn it off. No cleanup and disposal of ashes.

• Safety. Because there’s no combustion nor flames, certain safety issues are eliminated, such as possible carbon monoxide gas, chimney fires, and sparks or embers from the fireplace triggering an indoor fire.

• Less heat loss; higher efficiency. A wood fireplace loses substantial heat up the chimney. An electric unit, conversely, requires no venting or chimney, so all generated heat goes into warming the room. While the process of burning wood is considered an inefficient method for home heating by the Environmental Protection Agency, electricity produces heat with a 99% efficiency rating.

Cons

• Less ambiance. Few persons would claim that electric fireplaces produce the same classic, charming indoor atmosphere on a winter evening as a crackling, natural wood fire.

• Modest heating performance. While electric fireplaces are efficient in terms of energy consumption, perceptible heat these units produce is about the same as a standard electric space heater.

• No boost to the home's value. While a wood fireplace may increase home value up to 8%, most realtors agree that an electric fireplace adds no value to the home.

• Higher electrical demands. Household circuits must be adequate to handle the fireplace’s considerable electrical load.

For more pros and cons of having an electric fireplace, contact the pros at Air Assurance.

How to Keep the Most Vulnerable Members of Your Household Comfortable

A variety of factors can cause some of us to feel the heat or the cold more acutely than others. Sometimes it's age; other times it's illness. For still others, it's just how we are. We each tend to have an internal thermometer that tells us our optimum temperature.

But for some vulnerable household members, their health may depend on maintaining a certain temperature. Fortunately, there are ways to do this without sacrificing efficiency or comfort for other members of the household.

Why Too Cold or Too Hot?

Vulnerable household members may suffer from being too hot or too cold for a variety of reasons. When people are too cold, it might be because of:

• Poor circulation. This is often due to age.

• Low body fat. Fat insulates.

• Low muscle tone. Muscles also help insulate the body.

• Tall people are often colder because circulating blood has more area to cover.

• Dehydration can make us feel colder. 

• Gender can have an effect, with women feeling colder (in general) than men because of genetic factors that make it harder to regulate body temperatures.

• Illnesses including thyroid problems, diabetes, and iron deficiency may make people feel cold.

Vulnerable household members who feel too hot may experience these conditions: being overweight; hyperthyroidism; and taking medications such as certain antidepressants, hormonal medications, antibiotics, pain relievers, and/or heart and blood pressure drugs. They might also suffer from diabetes or fibromyalgia.

How to Regulate the Temperature for Vulnerable Household Members

Any home may have hot or cold spots, inspiring requests to raise or lower the thermostat. One way to help vulnerable household members is to install a zoned system so that these individuals can control the temperature in the area of the home they live in. Other solutions include:

• Repairing faulty ductwork.

• Inspecting vents to make sure they work properly.

• Insulating rooms to help hold in the heat or AC.

• Adding window treatments to block sun in rooms that are too hot.

• Fixing leaks around windows with caulk and weatherstripping. 

For more on helping vulnerable household members feel more comfortable without sacrificing HVAC efficiency, contact Air Assurance of Broken Arrow.

Keep Everyone — and Every Pet — In Your House Comfortable

In most households, we're continuously adjusting the thermostat to accommodate a wide variety of temperature needs. But while we tend to think mostly of our own human comfort, what about the needs of our pets?

Whether they are covered with fur, scales or feathers, animals often have different temperature needs than we do. Forced to endure conditions that are too hot or too cold, pets may sicken and die. Read on for some wisdom regarding home comfort for pets.

Wintertime Comfort

If you have indoor pets, be aware that they may find your heating a bit excessive. The fact that they have fur coats — particularly dogs — can mean they need to cool off a bit when you crank up the heat. If your dog is panting and the rest of your household is toasty at between 72 and 78 degrees, you may want to provide the dog with a fan to cool off.

Elderly and sick animals are a different story. Make sure they have a warm place to sleep when you turn the thermostat down to save energy when you're away from home or sleeping. Sometimes, pets may require a heated bed or a space heater to be comfortable.

Adjust the thermostat in a fish tank in line with recommendations for the species of fish you have.

Make sure birds are not too close to heat sources and that they are not stuck in sunlight or in a draft. Low-voltage heaters are available for bird cages. Don't give birds fibrous material to shred, as they might eat it.

For other types of caged animals, such as rabbits and rodents, give them shavings or recycled cardboard bedding, and provide them with a nesting box.

Summertime Comfort

During cooling season, you may want to provide a fan to ensure dogs and cats are comfortable, especially if you tend to keep the house on the warm side.

Be sure that pets have access to water in both summer and winter. Drinking water helps many mammals cool off.

For more on home comfort for pets, contact Air Assurance of Broken Arrow.

The Best Ways to Keep Outside Pets Warm in the Winter Season

Winter has arrived, and that's great news for millions of people across the country, but sometimes our pets need a little extra care to make sure they stay warm. Here are a few quick tips that will make keeping pets warm in the winter an easy task:

Don't Turn Off the Thermostat When You Leave

If you were home during the day, you most likely wouldn't turn your thermostat off, so don't do this to your pets either. That being said, since their acceptable range for temperatures is wider than people, you can lower the temperature down to 60 to 70 degrees while you're away and they will be fine.

Supply a Shelter and a Feeding Station

If you have an outdoor dog or cat, he or she may want to stay indoors more often, but there's still a good chance that they'll go outside too. Make sure that you've set up a shelter outside to help them stay warm, along with a feeding station so they don't get hungry.

Pick Up Some Pet Clothing

You may think that pet clothing, such as sweaters, looks a little silly, but it keeps them quite warm. In addition to the standard pet sweater, you may also want to consider some doggie booties so that ice doesn't collect on the bottoms of their paws.

Use Caution with De-Icing Chemicals

If you're planning on using antifreeze or another type of de-icing chemical, then be very wary about using them where pets might have access to the toxic substance. Also, keep the container in a place that your pets can't get to, and if a spill occurs, wipe it up immediately.

Pay Special Attention to Older Pets

Elderly animals can suffer from arthritic aches and pains just like we do. If your older pets seem to be uncomfortable, consider contacting your vet and getting him or her some pain medication.

If you'd like more expert advice on keeping pets warm in winter or have other HVAC issues that you need to discuss, please reach out to the friendly professionals at Air Assurance. We've been serving Broken Arrow and the surrounding areas for more than 35 years.