How Old Insulation Could be Harming Your Health
The benefits of having new insulation in your home speak for themselves. New insulation helps to seal your home off from the outside elements and keeps the unwanted heat or cold out. Both the attic and the crawl space are points in the home where insulation matters most. With the crawl space dominating the bottom area of the home and the attic the top, they are both located in areas of the home where unwanted hot and cold air can enter and affect the rest of the home. If this insulation is old, damaged, or compromised, then your home may be struggling to maintain temperature or be exposed to the outdoor elements without you even knowing. Keep reading to learn how your home’s old insulation could be harming your health:
Water Damage, Issues with Mold and Mildew
It is imperative that insulation stays dry for it to properly do its job. Insulation that has been exposed to moisture becomes compromised and therefore loses its insulating qualities. It’s not only less effective, but it can provide a breeding ground for mold growth.
Indoor mold can be very dangerous to those that live in the home. Mold growth in the attic or crawl space can worsen allergy symptoms, lead to troubled breathing, itchy eyes and skin, coughing, and more. This is because mold can release toxic chemicals into the air that migrate throughout the entire house.
According to the CDC, mold can start to grow as fast as 24-48 hours. Given this, it should be the utmost priority for homeowners to protect the status of their insulation. If your home’s insulation has been compromised due to moisture, reach out to an insulation installation professional to remove the damaged insulation and replace it with new insulation.
Animal Waste
It’s not uncommon, especially in an unsealed attic or crawl space, for unwanted pests and critters to make their way into the home. Pests and critters like mice, raccoons, squirrels, bats, insects, and more that find their way into your home and can use your insulation to nest, eat, or abandon their waste. In the process, they leave behind waste and excrement in your insulation full of airborne bacteria and pathogens. This can get into the air you breathe inside and have a negative impact on your home’s indoor air quality and your family’s health.
Poor Indoor Air Quality
In addition to animal waste and excrement, there are other factors that can lead to old insulation negatively impacting your home’s indoor air quality. For instance, if your attic is not properly maintained then there is a strong possibility of dust collecting in the insulation and affecting the indoor air quality throughout the rest of the house.
Your outdated attic insulation may contain hazardous materials such as asbestos. If your home was built before the 1980s, the insulation used, such as vermiculite insulation, may contain asbestos, which was once widely utilized in insulating materials due to its fire resistance and sound barrier properties. Asbestos has since been linked to lung cancer and mesothelioma and has been mostly outlawed in the United States since then.
If you suspect your home’s insulation contains asbestos, the safest course of action is to contact an attic insulation removal company, which can safely remove the old insulation and install new, safer insulation for your attic
New Insulation Services by Jersey Shore Crawlspace Enhancement
Our insulation installation services pay for themselves over time by saving our customers on average 17% on their heating and cooling bills throughout the year. We not only look to insulate your home properly, but to take it a step further and identify any other areas that are commonly missed like foundation cracks and air leaks. We perform a comprehensive evaluation of your attic, basement, and/or crawl space before insulating as this helps to identify any issues related to indoor air quality.
If you think that your house is ready for new, energy-efficient insulation, don’t hesitate to reach out to the pros at Jersey Shore Crawlspace Enhancement! Call us or fill out the form below and a Jersey Shore Crawlspace Enhancement representative will reach out to you shortly.