It is important for your home to have an insulated foundation so that it can be more comfortable and efficient. A poorly insulated foundation can lead to lost heat, which not only wastes energy but also makes your home less comfortable.
An insulated foundation will prevent heat loss through the floor, which helps keep your home warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. It will also make it easier for you to maintain a consistent temperature throughout all areas of your house—even if some rooms are used more often than others.
Heat loss in a home can lose up to 25% of your heat through the floor.
Heat loss through floors occurs when warm air rises and cold air enters through gaps in floors or walls. Insulated foundations prevent heat loss by creating an air gap between the ground and your flooring materials.
This air space acts as an insulator between two different materials—such as soil or concrete—that have different thermal conductivities (or rates at which they transfer heat). The result: less wasted energy when compared to traditional construction methods where there are no barriers between these two materials.
Insulated foundations prevent extra wear on your floors.
If there is no insulation under your carpeting or wood flooring then this can increase wear due to increased moisture content from condensation caused by cold surfaces touching heated ones (such as when walking barefoot across an uninsulated hardwood floor).
Foundations without insulation can be damaged.
If your foundation is not insulated, it could be subject to frost heaving, which can cause cracks and other structural damage to the foundation itself.
Frost heaving occurs when soil freezes and expands as a result of freezing temperatures. This expansion causes pressure on structures that are built over it (like houses). If you live in an area with cold winters like we do here in Oklahoma, then your house’s footing may be exposed to these kinds of pressures every year.
An insulated foundation is a great benefit for your home.
The bottom line is that an insulated foundation can make your home more comfortable and efficient. It will also help prevent structural damage from frost heaving, which can be expensive to repair.
Not every home comes standard with insulated foundations, but all of our Certified Green Homes do.