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SUNTEX Mendoza

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Arlington, TX 76010

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Insulation
Home Home Improvement Archive by Category "Insulation"

Category: Insulation

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Solar EnergyGardeningHome ImprovementInsulationSolar Panels
August 31, 2022by Megan Brannen0 Comments

Here’s How to Go Green: 5 Easy Lifestyle Changes to Implement Today

So you want to go green? Living an eco-friendly lifestyle that is both personally rewarding and environmentally viable is all the rage these days and for a good reason. You’ll see your carbon footprint decrease, electricity bills go down, and property value skyrocket. If you’re looking for compelling ways to live more green this year, SUNTEX breaks it down below. 

 1. Start with Your Home

GreenIf you’re shopping for a new home, this is the perfect time to start your eco-friendly mission. Look for specific features in potential homes that will support your sustainable ethos. For example, homes that come with Energy Star appliances are a good sign, as these appliances conserve energy and power. Next, consider the home’s building materials. Are the materials used eco-friendly? For example, pre-cast concrete and recycled steel structures will lower your gas usage while reducing the negative impact on the carbon footprint (you can learn more about how pre-cast concrete helps with carbon foot-printing by visiting Informed Infrastructure). Lastly, look for pre-existing LED light fixtures, which are great for reducing energy consumption.   

2. Go Solar 

 According to Solar Power World, one out of every 600 U.S. homes are installing solar panels every quarter. In addition to reducing your carbon footprint and reliance on depleting resources like fossil fuels, going solar comes with significant economic benefits. solar power can cut down on your electricity bill by half each year, and the government also offers solar tax rebates and incentives if your home is powered by solar energy. For more information on adding solar panels to your home, connect with SUNTEX today. 

 3. Watch That Insulation 

 Be sure to check for drafts in your new home. Drafts are a good indication that your insulation isn’t working as it should, which means you’re using more energy for heating and cooling. Patching up any holes or leaks in insulation will be critical here, but luckily, the fix is simple with a little bit of caulk. You could also spring for a complete renovation to overhaul your insulation system to a more robust, eco-friendly option (if you have a bigger budget). 

4. Green Up Your Landscaping 

Green

Growing a lush, green lawn is the dream of many homeowners. However, traditional lawns are high-maintenance, requiring regular watering and fertilizing. They can also be damaging to the environment, as chemical runoff from lawncare products can pollute waterways. For a more sustainable option, implement eco-friendly landscaping in your yard. Opt for drought-friendly plants or native flowers, add more hardscaping, and ditch the sprinkler system. If you need help pulling this off, connect with local landscapers that get top marks for eco-friendly design and execution. Start by reading online reviews and customer testimonials to find the ideal provider in your part of town.  

 5. Look at Those Small Details

Last but not least, watch out for those small details. It doesn’t quite add up if you’re using solar power but also cleaning your home with toxic and harmful chemicals. Create an exhaustive list of all the products and items you use regularly, and consider more environmentally-sound swaps. You can also cut back on consumption and waste starting by swapping paper towels for reusable rags or ditching plastic baggies for beeswax wraps. Consider powder detergent over giant plastic bottles, and purchase refills instead of buying new hand-soap containers. You can even start composting on a small scale.  

Green

Going green is more than implementing a few strategies around your house. Instead, it is a holistic lifestyle that you will need to practice in all your decisions for it to make a difference. Start by working toward solar power, or update your landscaping to avoid water waste. Implement a kitchen composting system, and change out your cleaning products. The good news is that consistent effort in the eco-friendly department can stack up to real and tangible environmental benefits, so keep on keeping at it!

Note: This article was written for SUNTEX by guest writer, Emma Grace Brown. Please reach out directly to SUNTEX if you have any questions regarding this article, or the blog post content.

WinterInsulation
January 17, 2022by Megan Brannen0 Comments

Blackout Contingency Planning: 2022 Survival Guide

I wasn’t originally planning to write a post about Blackouts in 2022 for several reasons:

  1. I thought that the polar vortex of 2021, and subsequent snow-pocalypse, was in fact a once-every-10-years type of event as climatologists had predicted, and believed that the weather would sort of go back to “normal” – droughts, and only a few days below freezing.
  2. Given last year’s grid debacle, subsequent deaths, and the PTSD we all now face as a result, I didn’t want to contribute to any unnecessary panic.
  3. Perhaps it’s naÃŊve, but I really thought that the state’s leadership would do something – anything – to “fix the grid” as a contingency plan just in case we experienced any more freezes.

Unfortunately however, given what we discussed in previous blogs (https://suntexllc.com/texas-senate-following-the-bills-where-are-we-now/), it seems that we the people of Texas are the first and last lines of defense against the brutal cold we are already experiencing this winter, and there are likely more freezing days to come. Thus, I’d like to provide a few easy steps to winterize your own home prior to experiencing freezing temps, and just in case the grid fails again this year and we experience “rolling blackouts,” so you’re better prepared to handle it.

Blackout Faucet Protector

Snowstorm/Blackout Contingency Planning for the Outdoors 

First, let’s focus on the outside prep – since you’ll want to do this first, preferably before the storm hits. You want to start by covering any outside water spigots with foam covers – you can find these at your local hardware store (assuming they’re in stock), or online if you plan far enough ahead. Check out one example here: https://www.lowes.com/pd/CompanyBox-Styrofoam-Faucet-Cover/1000651583, also featured in the photo on the left.

Of course, if the hardware stores run out (like they did last year when my husband and I finally got around to looking for them), you can always cut up a pool noodle and tape it around the faucet as a cover as we did, and you might even have some left over to give to a neighbor or store for next year.

Now, let’s consider the garden. I wrote a post not too long ago which explained how to prep your garden for freezing temperatures – check it out here: Home Gardens and Cold Fronts. For now I’ll simply sum it up as follows:

  • Plan to bring in any potted plants since you can do so, and likely they’ll be safer inside – plus these tend to be a little more temperamental in the cold.
  • Cover any freeze-intolerant plants such as citrus trees or cacti with tarp – or if you’re a hoarder like me, you can also use old shower liners. Just be sure to secure them with a rock or two so they don’t blow away (the more rocks you add to seal the sides, the better, since you’re trying to create a mini-greenhouse effect.
  • If you’re worried about an icy driveway, add sand instead of salt – it has similar properties, and should keep your driveway ice-free, however sand is much safer on your garden since excessive salt will kill most plants

Snowstorm/Blackout Contingency Planning for Indoors

Now that you’ve prepped the outdoors, it’s time to start looking inward. No, I don’t mean mindful meditation – though it couldn’t hurt – instead I’m referring to winterizing your home. Hopefully you didn’t go to the hardware store without reading the whole blog, because while you’re there picking up foam covers you may also want to grab some weather-stripping for your exterior doors. This product can take on various forms, at varied prices and installation processes, so my recommendation would be to measure the door frame to see how much you might need, and then check out the various types online first to determine your preference.

Weather-stripping is wonderful because it’s a cost-effective way to make sure your door seals properly – trapping heat inside the house and saving you money and energy when heating your home. Similarly, when your home has proper insulation (in the walls, attic, and crawl spaces), you can trap heat more effectively inside (and air-conditioning in the summertime), again saving you money and energy in controlling the temperature indoors.

I’ll only mention this here, and shamelessly plug SUNTEX here since we can help you out and provide a free quote, however the installation process does take more time – so you’ll want to start planning for this project months ahead of a winter storm or a scorching summer day. That said, please do give us a call with any questions on insulating your home!

Blackout Grid WaterIn the direst of circumstances, when a blackout does occur, you’ll want to take a few extra emergency planning steps, and the more you plan ahead, the easier they will be to manage:

  1. Cover your windows with blankets and/or cardboard and/or foil to trap heat inside.
  2. Keep candles and lighters/matches somewhere you can easily locate them in the dark.
  3. If you have a fireplace, make sure you’ve kept enough firewood warm and dry to last until the outdoor temperature rises again – keep in mind that you can experience hypothermia in temperatures above freezing, especially if you get wet, so it’s important to stay warm and dry during a freeze (check out the following Mayo clinic link for symptoms of hypothermia and when to seek medical help: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hypothermia/symptoms-causes/syc-20352682#:~:text=Hypothermia%20is%20a%20medical%20emergency,95%20F%20(35%20C).
  4. Dress in baggy and tight layers, alternating with each layer of clothing, and tucking things in where possible – for example, if you start with leggings and a shirt, then add socks pulled up over them, then a t-shirt tucked into sweatpants, and finally a sweatshirt on top – you will be much warmer than had you just warn the sweats.
  5. If you have a car, don’t forget you can always turn it on and sit in it for a couple of hours while you warm up and charge your phone (assuming you have a full tank of gas of course), however DO NOT sit inside a car in your garage or you will risk carbon monoxide poisoning – which is odorless and colorless, and very hard to detect until it’s too late (here’s what the CDC has to say about it: https://www.cdc.gov/co/faqs.htm).

Now, if there is a burst pipe in your area and the water gets shut off to avoid flooding (as can happen in freezing temperatures if pipes are not properly winterized), don’t panic! There are a few things you can do that don’t include evacuating to a hotel:

  1. Store some potable water ahead of time or pick up a few gallons from the store just in case.
  2. Capture rainwater/snow in a large pot and boil it to ensure you kill any bacteria (if you’re familiar with the SODIS method of water purification then congrats! However, I would not recommend this strategy in the winter, particularly during a storm, since you may not get enough sunlight to purify the water naturally).
  3. Store snow in your bathtub to have on-hand for bucket-baths and cleaning dishes.

Snowstorm/Blackout Contingency Planning for the Over-achievers

Now, if you really want to prepare for a blackout or a water shutoff, there are a few other things you might want to consider doing before the freeze sets in:

  1. Do the laundry! Your washer and dryer require enormous amounts of energy (not to mention the water needed to run your washing machine), so be sure to do this ahead of time so that you’re not using excessive power while trying to keep your heat on. If you don’t get to this before the storm hits, just wait until the temperatures increase again or you might be contributing to unnecessary rolling blackouts.
  2. Do the dishes! This one seems fairly straight forward since you’re already doing this daily, however it’s much better to have a clean sink to work with if the water gets shut off since you’ll need less rainwater/snow to clean dishes during the outage. It’s also a nice mental reprieve for an already beleaguered person who’s trying to survive the cold.
  3. Keep in mind that food in your fridge will go bad if you continually open and close the fridge while the power is out, so if it’s cold enough, you can simply put your refrigerated items outdoors until the power returns, or use a cooler packed with snow.
  4. For pet owners: take your dogs on a long walk the day before the storm hits! This is a real pro-tip since not many people probably think about this until their dogs are running around the house with all their pent-up energy from being indoors. You probably won’t want to drive to the park or go on a long run in the sleet/snow, so if you wear them out ahead of time, chances are they’ll be happy to sleep for a day or two while you’re running around trying to keep the house warm.

While these steps are helpful, you may still need to leave your home and go to a hotel with power (one near a hospital, for example, which is usually prioritized by grid operators during rolling blackouts) if you have medical devices that require power, or if you don’t have a car you can seek refuge in.

You might even be able to call your insurance provider to see if they can help recoup the cost if for example, power lines go down in your neighborhood or the water is shut off for extended periods of time. Just use caution and common sense to decide when to go, since the roadways could be dangerous if you wait too long, or you could end up wasting money if the power does not go out and your water stays on. Do what makes sense to keep yourself safe and warm.

The most important piece of advice I could give you is Don’t Panic! You are far more capable than you think, and if you follow the steps outlined above, while you may not be thriving for a few days, you will survive, and especially in Texas, you’ll be back in hot weather again before you know it. If you have any additional tips, please do feel free to share them in the comments below. In the meantime, stay warm, stay dry, and enjoy the snowy scenery!

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Insulation
March 31, 2021by Megan Brannen0 Comments

Ins and Outs of Insulation

Are you insulated from the heat this summer? Since insulation lives inside of your walls, a good way to tell is whether your house retained heat during the winter storm. While it may not be the sexiest home upgrade, proper insulation in a home or business can save you tons of money on energy costs! For an idea of how much insulation should cost, check out the following article from homeadvisor.com, which outlines different types of insulation, how it works, and how to DIY a quote for your home: https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/insulation/#:~:text=Cost%3A%20The%20average%20cost%20per,for%206%20hours%20of%20work. If you’re interested in an expert opinion, check out our products here: https://www.owenscorning.com/en-us/insulation/commercial?gclid=Cj0KCQjwmIuDBhDXARIsAFITC_6IE9eaXHYg7CGg-22EgdVHvywogaWRHih19QpSE1Q_rXpXcB9l-tMaAsutEALw_wcB&utm_id=sem%3Acommercial%3A2020%3Asearch%3A1%3A1%3Ageneral%3Aunknown, and give us a call!

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InnovationInsulation
March 9, 2021by Megan Brannen0 Comments

Historical Figures: Insulation Inventors

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how on earth an American home – and all of the gadgets and technology within them – came to be. How did people learn to add weather stripping to the bottom of the door frame that would be durable to withstand being walked on, but also flexible enough to seal the door from air flowing in or out? How did we get from straw roof-tops to the asphalt-laden tiles you see on rooftops today? While I don’t have all of the answers, I did come across a few interesting inventions that brought us closer to the home improvements we see today.

For example, did you know humans used to use asbestos in homes, on purpose, for insulation?! It wasn’t until the 1980’s that Asbestos bans started cropping up all over the world, even though it is still used today in some projects in the U.S.: https://www.asbestos.com/mesothelioma-lawyer/legislation/ban/. 

Mud has been used as a natural insulator in buildings for centuries! In fact, mud homes are still popular all over the world today, including in India and other parts of the world where dry heat is common, https://www.downtoearth.org.in/indepth/mud-housing-is-the-key-30237, and in Ghana the industry for mud homes is even being perfected by the work of Joelle Eyeson and the team at Hive Earth, https://www.dw.com/en/in-ghana-new-updated-mud-houses-could-be-the-future/a-47536312 – how beautiful! 

One type of mud building you’ve likely seen before is adobe. This ancient technology is used all over the world, and has been for thousands of years – from New Mexico to New Zealand, https://www.solidearth.co.nz/earthbuilding-information/building-with-adobe-brick-technique/, and back again. For all you want to know about the construction of adobe and more, feel free to check out the following article for more information: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-adobe-sustainable-energy-efficient-177943.

If you’re more familiar with the pinkish foam-like substance between your walls, you can thank Dale Kleist for his invention of Fiberglass Insulation: https://www.pjfitz.com/blog/insulation-installation/home-improvement-history-lessons-insulation/#:~:text=When%20researcher%20Dale%20Kleist%20attempted,became%20popular%20in%20the%201940s. According to this article, in the 1940’s Kleist was attempting “to create a vacuum seal between two glass blocks, an accidental stream of high-pressured air turned some of the glass into thin fibers. These fibers became the base of fiberglass insulation.” This is just one of the few types of insulation we use today when installing Owens Corning products – check out our link with more information, here: https://www.owenscorning.com/en-us/insulation/residential.

Insulation is essential in the energy discussion. As we just saw in Texas during the winter storm, proper insulation can trap heat in your home – even when your power is cut off – and can keep your home cool in the summer during those triple-digit days. If you have questions about the insulation quality in your home, call us today!

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ElectricityInsulation
January 27, 2021by Megan Brannen0 Comments

Heating for One: Why so Expensive?

While I would love to explore the intricate and highly complex details of heating, it’s safe to say that this article does a much better job of explaining the ins and outs of storing heat indoors than I ever could, so please give it a read:

The cheapest, most efficient way to heat your home this winter, By Stephen Marcus Monday 21 December 2020

https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/energy-guides/is-it-more-energy-efficient-to-leave-the-heating-on.html

The biggest takeaways I get from the article, are that most homes in the US use centralized heating, but all types of heating will lose heat in the wintertime – through heat transfers within the heating process, or simply by escaping through the front/back door/walls/floorboards. The best way to prevent this is by having good insulation to keep heat trapped indoors longer, and if your house uses thermostatic radiator valves, you’re likely ahead of the game in terms of energy efficiency. The article also provides some excellent tips for cutting energy use, from the best types of insulation to use in your home and where to add it to make the most impact, to adding a lid to boiling water so it will come to a boil more quickly and therefore use less energy (https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/energy-guides/120-ways-to-save-energy.html), to investing in thermal solar panels which turn energy directly into heat!

It’s important to note that until we can all afford to move to things like thermal solar panels, we will be somewhat reliant on fossil fuels to heat our homes – so the question becomes, how can we waste less? The possibilities are limitless. What are some of your favorite techniques for saving money in the wintertime? Please share them here, or give us a call today if you would like to discuss the insulation and heating system in your home!

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ElectricityHybrid EnergyInsulation
January 25, 2021by Megan Brannen0 Comments

Setting the Stage: Energy Consumption in the Home

As homeowners, we understand the appeal to have the best gadgets and gear to help with daily chores and life. For example, the dishwasher saves us hours of time spent over a sink with rubber gloves, the leaf-blower provides a similar benefit over using a manual rake. It wasn’t until recently that we really discovered that we needed to start asking ourselves what the carbon cost of these items might be, and how to prevent waste. There’s a lot to unpack here, but if you can get through it, you’ll be one step closer to making your home carbon neutral, and saving a ton of money in the process.

This week, we’ll take a holistic view of the home’s energy consumption, and see if we can uncover an opportunity or two in eliminating our own carbon footprint.

To start, we need to have a fundamental understanding of which appliances use the most energy in our homes. Here are a few articles to help guide you in the right direction:

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