July 17, 2025
If you’re looking for ways to keep your house cooler this summer without spending a fortune on air conditioning, better attic insulation might be the answer.
Attic insulation works by slowing down heat transfer. In the summer, it stops outside heat from seeping into your house, helping you stay cool.
Keep reading to learn more about attic insulation, how it works, and whether it’s worth the investment for your home.
Why Your Attic Gets So Hot in the Summer
In the summer, the sun beats down on your roof all day long. The heat it absorbs radiates down into your attic, sending the temperature soaring well above 100 degrees. Without proper insulation and air sealing, that heat moves straight through the ceiling into the living spaces below.
This process—called heat transfer—is what causes upstairs bedrooms and hallways to feel hot and stuffy, even when your AC is running full blast.
How Attic Insulation Helps Cool Your Home
Attic insulation is like a shield that resists heat transfer. In the summer, it slows down the heat moving from your attic into the rooms below it. As a result:
- Less outdoor heat gets into your home
- Indoor temperatures stay more stable
- Your AC runs less often, which can lower your energy bills
Air Sealing Works Hand-in-Hand with Insulation
Insulation alone isn’t enough to keep your house truly cool in the summer if your attic is full of air leaks. Air leaks (small gaps around light fixtures, pipes, and attic hatches) can let in hot air and cool air out, undermining the benefits of insulation.
At Weatherization Services, we always air seal before installing attic insulation. This extra step makes your new attic insulation more effective so you can enjoy a cooler house, better energy efficiency, and lower AC bills.
Benefits of Attic Insulation in the Summer
Upgrading your attic insulation and air sealing has real benefits that will improve your quality of life during the hot summer months:
- Better Comfort - Attic insulation leads to cooler bedrooms, fewer hot spots, and a noticeable drop in overall indoor temperature.
- Lower Energy Bills - The cooler your house is, the less often you need to run your air conditioning, saving you money.
- Saves Energy - Using less AC saves energy, which is good for the environment.
- Less Humidity - Air sealing keeps humid air out, improving comfort while preventing mold and mildew.
Do You Need More Attic Insulation?
Even if you have some insulation in your attic, there’s a good chance you need more or better insulation. Insulation can settle or compress over time, which reduces its effectiveness. Plus, most older homes weren’t designed to meet today’s standards for comfort and energy efficiency.
Here are a few signs that you might need better insulation in your attic:
- Upstairs rooms are uncomfortably hot
- There’s a noticeable temperature difference between the first and second floors
- Your AC runs constantly, but your house stays hot
- Electric bills are rising and you don’t know why
- Your insulation looks patchy, wet, compressed, or dirty
If you’ve noticed any of these signs, you might need to upgrade your insulation. But the only way to know for sure is with a home energy audit.
An energy audit shows you exactly where and how heat is getting in, using tools like a blower door test and infrared scanning. It helps you see whether new attic insulation is worth it for your home.
At Weatherization Services, we don’t just guess at whether and where you need more insulation. We test with an energy audit, make the most effective repairs, and then test again to verify that the upgrades worked.
The result is a more comfortable home and lower energy bills without wasting money on unnecessary improvements.