Insulation for anyone’s home is obviously a must to help cut energy costs while providing residents with more relaxing living quarters. It’s important for trapping outside air and regulating temperatures throughout the home.
Having enough insulation put up, especially in unfinished areas of the home like attics or roofing, is important for you to decide. And if you’re not planning on hiring a contractor because you want to go it alone, here are a few safety reminders when putting up insulation.
Always Wear Protective Gear
I’ve learned this first tip the hard way. I was at my friend’s home helping her and the roommates get their home ready for the winter. They had a bundle of insulation set out and needed my “expertise”. Long story short, I started putting up each coil through the cracks in the basement ceiling and the whole time, I’m not wearing gloves, goggles or a mask. It was a careless misstep because my hands began to itch and redden from the tiny fiber glass particles inside the insulation had made their way into my skin.
That in and of itself was a lucky break because I could have been inhaling these particles from any dust that may have entered. Do that, and you’ve got some serious problems coming your way.
The tip should seem cut-and-dry, but forgetting simple things like this can happen all the time. Make sure your entire body is covered up against any possible contact with insulation. Most importantly, make sure you have that dust mask on.
Be Mindful of Where You Place It
Sometimes you get so carried away with lining your walls with insulation that you might overlook where certain patches are leaning against. Heated pipes, furnaces and other electrical fixtures–they’re all possible accidents waiting to spark. Now in some cases, you may have to put the insulation around these areas. Just make sure to properly cut and mold shapes of the insulation coil to be both tucked away inside the wall and safely secured from flammable objects.
And if it’s not fire-starting areas you have to worry about, it’s the children or animals around the house. Make sure insulation is safely stowed away from your children or pets. If I were 7 again and found a heaping pile of insulation downstairs in the basement or up in the attic I would be bounce around in it to my heart’s content. I can only imagine the pets would take to it as their new bed.
If either of these two tips seem too much for you, it’s best to let the pros handle it by contacting a home improvement contractor to come in. Sometimes the insulation can be a bang-bang setup, while other times the area of your home may be a bit more complex for jobs like this. However you reach the endgame, just prepare your body properly and keep a watchful eye on danger zones. After that, all you have to do is sit back and relax in much more cozy living spaces.
