Is your attic secretly costing you money this fall? Before the first cool snap rolls into Jonesboro and Trumann, September is the perfect time to check whether your attic insulation is actually doing its job โ or quietly failing you.
The most obvious sign: your energy bill stayed high all summer even when you kept the thermostat steady. If you're running a 3-ton unit and still seeing $250โ$300 electric bills in August, heat gain through an under-insulated attic is usually suspect number one.
Next, stick your head into the attic hatch. Climate Zone 3 โ where Northeast Arkansas sits โ calls for a minimum R-38 in the attic per IRC Table N1102.1.3. Most older homes in this area are sitting on 3โ4 inches of compressed fiberglass, which measures out to roughly R-11 to R-13. That's less than a third of what you need.
Other red flags: rooms on the top floor that never seem to cool down, HVAC equipment that runs constantly, or visible daylight around attic bypasses like recessed lights and plumbing chases. Those gaps let conditioned air pour out like an open window โ 24 hours a day.
A properly finished attic in this region should have either blown-in cellulose at 10โ12 inches (R-38) or closed-cell spray foam at 6โ7 inches (R-42) covering every square foot, including those sloped knee-wall areas builders often skip.
September bookings fill fast once the weather breaks. Don't wait until November to fix a problem that's been running up your bills since May.
Reply to this post or DM us for a free attic assessment โ we serve Jonesboro, Trumann, Paragould, and surrounding NEA communities.