If your August energy bill made you flinch, your attic is probably telling you something. High utility costs in Northeast Arkansas summers โ where attic temps routinely hit 140 ยฐF โ are one of the clearest signs your attic needs more insulation, and fall is the perfect window to fix it before heating season starts.
Walk through your house and take notes. Are some rooms noticeably harder to cool than others? Do you feel radiant heat near the ceiling in the afternoon? Those are textbook symptoms of under-insulated attic decks โ usually anything below R-38, which is the minimum DOE recommendation for Climate Zone 3 (that's us).
Head up there if you safely can. If you can see the tops of your ceiling joists, you're likely sitting around R-11 to R-19 โ roughly half of what you need. Current IRC R402.2.1 calls for R-49 in new construction here in Zone 3. Most older Jonesboro and Trumann homes were built to R-19 or less and have never been touched since.
Other red flags: insulation that looks gray, matted, or compressed; visible air gaps around light fixtures or the attic hatch; and HVAC ductwork that feels warm to the touch even when the system is running. Compressed batts lose 40โ50% of their rated R-value, so what was installed as R-30 might be performing like R-15.
The good news? Adding blown-in cellulose to bring a 1,200 SF attic from R-19 up to R-49 typically runs $1.00โ$1.50 per square foot installed โ and most homeowners in our area see 15โ25% reductions on heating and cooling costs within the first year.
Reply or DM us for a free attic assessment and estimate. We serve Jonesboro, Trumann, Paragould, and the surrounding area.