Better Insulation for Home Savings

Tony Oakman from Lee’s Heating and Air is with us today to tell us how the right amount of insulation in the right places in your home can save you money all year long.


May people think that insulation is just a problem with older homes, but in reality many newer homes don’t have the right amount insulation to be energy efficient. Homes built in the last 20 years seem to have more complicated roof lines and attic areas, so many of these attics have areas that receive less insulation – or none at all. Here are some photos of attics that we have recently seen (Show photos while he talks). You can see that some have little insulation, and some have uneven insulation that actually looks like ski moguls in the attic. That causes energy efficiency issues because uneven insulation, or not enough insulation, plays a direct role in how efficient your furnace and A/C works. In fact, proper insulation can also save you money in the event you need a new furnace. That’s because we can actually down size the furnace BTU while upgrading the insulation r value in the attic, saving our customers hundreds of dollars – not only on the initial furnace, but on monthly utility bills.

But how many people actually go into their attics to know what is up there? That’s where Lee’s can help. When we come out to check the efficiency of your furnace or A/C, we perform a heat calculation to determine if the equipment is sized properly. To do that, we conduct a visual inspection of insulation in the home. From there, we determine if you have the right amount of insulation over your entire living space.

There’s a wide range of insulation types that have been used through the years, so a good knowledge of which insulation works best is a must. I brought the top two types of insulation being used today. The first is cellulose. It is usually found in homes 6 years or newer. It looks like shredded paper. The advantage to this insulation is that it does not require as much to be energy efficient and reach code, but it settles over time and you will need to add more insulation. This is fiberglass insulation. You can see it has more in depth, and it holds its form. You can also add it on top of additional fiberglass insulation or cellulose to increase rating and energy efficiency. BUT, be careful, you should never add cellulose on top of fiberglass because that will mash it down and become less efficient.

Prices for insulation seem to be all over the board right now. We’ve seen insulation r-19 selling at 45 cents, 50 cents, even 70 cents per square foot. Right now Lee’s is offering to add an r-19 insulation to your existing insulation for just 40 cents per square foot – or an r-30 for 60 cents a square foot. Plus, now is the perfect time to take advantage of the energy rebates available. Home insulation qualifiers who currently have less than an r-19 rating in their home can receive a Federal Tax Credit of up to 30% of the insulation work performed on the home. Plus Questar will rebate you 20 cents per square foot of insulation you add to the home, and Rocky Mountain Power will rebate another 20 cents per square foot if you have central air and increase your insulation rating to an r-38 or higher.

Right now you can give us a call, and Lee’s will come out and inspect your home insulation for FREE! We’ll be able to tell you where you are currently in rating and what it will take to make sure you are up to current code and being most efficient in your home. While we are there, we can also do a safety inspection on your furnace for just $29.


To contact Tony at Lee’s Heating and Air, you can call 801-747-LEES or visit them at leesheatac.com

You can ask about the Studio 5 Offer: FREE Insulation Inspection and $29 Safety Inspection on Furnace.

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