Why is legislation changing to improve insulation standards in our homes?

For years and years, people with uninsulated homes have struggled with keeping warm in the chilliest winter months. Due to the additional expenses of insulating a house, many people did not bother to get the required procedures done in order to protect their home from harsh weather. Getting one's fully-constructed house insulated can be quite a difficult and lengthy procedure, especially if it is a modern house with solid walls and concrete flooring. Many a times, to get the area insulated, people will need to get their houses reconstructed to a certain extent, which can take a long time. This fact is another thing that repelled residents from getting their houses insulated or caused them to continue to put it off for a long time.

However, it was often due to this negligence that illnesses would become common, and the health and safety of the residents of the building were at risk.

It is for this reason that, recently, the legislation regarding insulation has been altered. It has been decided that all rental properties absolutely must be insulated by the time July 2019 comes around. This includes loft insulation, flooring insulation and insulation of the walls. Of course, there are certain exceptions that must be made for the houses which are built in a manner that does not allow insulation to be added to their structures.

State and local building codes usually include certain minimum insulation requirements, but the newer laws that are beginning to arise will aid tenants to have a more energy efficient insulation for their homes.

Previously, installing insulation would cost thousands of dollars which needed to be forked over by the people occupying the homes. With the changing laws regarding insulation, though, households will be well insulated beforehand, providing a helping hand to the less wealthy tenants.

This is a great step forward, as it means that more people will be comfortable, healthy and safe from the cold during unpleasant weather conditions.

The purpose of the changing legislation to improve insulation is taking place for numerous reasons. First of all, houses having thorough insulation beforehand will keep the future residents of the house safe from the cold, reducing the number of people suffering from unpleasant ailments simply due to the extreme temperatures.

The second reason for the changing legislation, and perhaps one of the most significant ones, is that proper insulation can help the country, and the whole world, really, to save a considerable amount of energy in the long run.

When a house is properly insulated, there is much less need to use other methods of heating up the area, such as electric or gas heaters, thermostats, etc. So, overall, electricity and other resources are conserved just by adding insulation to the household. Because energy conservation is important to the government, insulation is being given more and more importance as the time goes on, and it has been made a prerequisite for houses and any living areas.

Another reason for the increasingly strict laws that encourage insulation is something that we touched on earlier: saving money. Many a times, to get the house that they live in fully insulated, the people occupying the house would have to spend quite a lot of money in hiring professionals and paying for the expensive procedures that needed to be done. Insulating a house after it has already been built is no easy task, and it often requires a certain degree of demolition of parts of the house, and then rebuilding them after the insulating material has been put in place. This, of course, only adds to the expenses of a process that would have been much less costly if it had been performed while the house was being built. Poorer residents simply could not afford these procedures, so it would often cause financial difficulties for them, or would even cause them to shy away from getting them done.

By changing the legislation regarding insulation, and encouraging landlords to get houses insulated while they are still being constructed instead of waiting for the future residents of the house to get it done themselves, money will be saved. Not only this, but the resources that would have been required to demolish and reconstruct the parts of the house will also be saved. It's a win-win situation, so it is understandable that the legislation is changing, and it will likely bring a lot of benefits to the country and the general public in terms of being relatively environment friendly and cost effective.

Another reason why the laws regarding insulation are changing is because the value of a house increases by quite a bit once it has been well insulated. Of course, it only makes sense that a house which is insulated would make it a more comfortable and pleasant place to live, therefore making it more desirable to potential buyers of the house. When it is more desirable to live in, its value also becomes higher. This is not only beneficial to the landlords that own the house, but also to the people that purchase it, as it becomes a sort of investment to them in case they ever wish to sell it at a later date or even rent it out to someone.

So, to have more houses that have better value, the legislation for insulating houses is slowly but surely improving. With time, it is likely that the insulation laws will become even more strict and thorough, which is a good thing for the general public, as it means that the houses will have better value, will be safer, more cosy, and will just be superior to the houses of the past, in general.

That sums up everything there is to know about the legislation relating to insulating houses, as well as how and why it is changing with time. We can conclude that insulation is essential for a great house, and it should be done during the construction process.