Even though it looks like the dog days of summer are in the rear view mirror, I know saving money on the electric bill is always top of mind for a lot of us. I’ve shared some of my favorite tips here in the past – things like regularly changing your air filter and keeping up on your air conditioner maintenance. But if you’re still not happy with the cost-saving efforts after doing all that, there is something else – checking your attic insulation.

Insufficient insulation in the attic is actually one of the biggest causes of wasted energy in new homes. About 90% of homes in the United States don’t have enough attic insulation. And that means more heat gets into your home during the summer and more heat escapes your home during the winter.

Here are a few things you may not know about insulation – and I’ll try to boil down the technical talk into common terms.

The amount of insulation that’s installed in your attic is measured by something called an R-Value. The average R-Value for homes in San Antonio is R-11. But the recommended R-Value for homes built in our climate is at least R-49. So you can see the huge difference.

The good news is there’s a simple way to find out if your attic has enough insulation – just go up there and look around. If the roof rafters are visible, then your attic is under insulated.

It’s just one more thing to keep in mind when that electric bill keeps going up and up.