It’s no great secret that the homes that most prospective buyers are looking to buy are ones that they don’t feel that there is a lot of work that needs to be done in upgrading. With the available tax credits right now there are some very affordable upgrades that you can make to your home now with an eye both for saving money while you live in the home and to add value to draw in buyers if you chose to sell later on.
If your house is older than 20 years old, it might have what we would consider now to be very substandard levels of insulation. In recent years the required R-value for insulation in a home increased to much higher levels than they had been at in decades previously. If you are unsure about how much insulation that your home has you can measure the thickness of insulation in your attic and in your crawl space or basement ceiling. If you have questions regarding the recommended level of R-value that your area needs, you can look up the information at the US Dept. of Energy website.
If you need to add insulation to your attic floor or crawlspace ceiling, the easiest way to do that is with fiberglass batting. Because it comes in large fluffy pieces, it’s relatively easy to handle, though you do need to protect your skin and respiratory system from the little slivers that it can shed. Make sure that you add a vapour barrier if there isn’t one installed already that you can reuse; wet insulation doesn’t provide any protection at all.
To add insulation to the outer walls of your home it is easiest to contact a professional about having insulation blown in. This is the least invasive method of getting the insulation into your walls. Blown in insulation can have an even higher R-value than fibreglass batting if it’s installed correctly.
Remember to keep your receipts from all of your purchases; the current tax incentives will cover at least a portion of your insulation and vapour barrier costs. This can significantly reduce the cost of your project.
Having an extra layer of insulation in your home can significantly reduce the amount of heat that your home loses in the winter and also the amount of heat that is gained during the summer. Like so many other home improvement projects, this one adds value to your home while making it cheaper to live in and also makes it more appealing for prospective buyers in the future if you choose to sell.
RE/MAX of Boulder consistently ranks as one of the top realty firms in the Boulder real estate market. To find the right Boulder REALTOR® for you, visit BoulderCO.com
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