Gale Tedhams: Hi! My name is Gale Tedhams and I am with Owens Corning. Today, we are going to talk about insulating your home and why that's important to do so. There is over 80 million under-insulated homes in the United States today and homes and buildings are one of the largest users of energy in our country.

Insulating your home can save up to 20% on your heating and cooling bills and it can make your house a lot more comfortable. Also, insulation today is eligible for tax credits. So we are going to talk about the attic first, because that's usually the most accessible place in your home to get to and to be able to re-insulate.

So how do you know if you have enough insulation? Go to your attic and look to see if you can see the wood beams or joists on the floor. If you can see those, chances are you don't have enough insulation. Take a ruler with you and measure from the floor to the top of the insulation to see how much you have. Even if you can't see the wood joist, you want to have an accurate measurement to know how much you have already.

Now, the department of energy recommends that you have up to an R-60 insulation depending on where you live in the country. An R-60 requires anywhere from 19 inches of Batt insulation to 22 inches of blown insulation to fill that requirement. The R value means the insulating power or performance of the insulation, the resistance to heat flow.

So now that you know that you need insulation, let's talk about some insulating options that we can put in your attic.