Illustrative assembly. Final specification depends on your home.
USA SOLAR · R-49 ATTIC INSULATION
Your solar is working. If the bill still isn’t what you expected, the attic is usually why.
The happy solar customer
Your panels already do the first. One fix, sealing the attic, unlocks most of the rest.
Your panels make electricity while the sun is over the house, roughly 10 to 5.
A battery keeps the surplus.
Insulation means the house needs less in the first place.
Your home runs on its own power: lights, appliances, air conditioning.
What you don’t use goes to the utility, subject to its rules and rates.
Your energy day, 2027
For years the utility acted as your virtual battery: send a kilowatt, get a kilowatt back. That one-to-one deal has been eroding, and the next billing model prices peak hours higher. The peak hours fall outside the sun’s hours.
Priced high. The sun is low and to the east; panels give about a quarter of what you need.
Your panels produce. The house runs on its own power and the surplus goes out.
Priced high. Sun to the west, another quarter. The rest is bought back at the peak rate.
No production. A sealed attic is what keeps the air conditioner from running all night.
Illustrative. The hours and shares are the ones we draw at the kitchen table, not a forecast for your roof.
Two options
One example home, the way we draw it on paper. Your numbers come from your own bill.
Keep the current setup
Would that make you happy?
Conserve first, then sell
15-year warranty on the attic: no mold, no allergens or insects coming through, and the air conditioner stops fighting the roof.
Example figures from our presentation, rounded. Not a quote, an energy audit or a savings guarantee. Warranty terms are the installer’s and are shown to you in writing before anything is signed.
The thermostat test
A thermostat works on a two-degree swing: 78 to 80 and back, or 69 to 71 and back. With a hot attic above the drywall the air conditioner cycles either way, and it wears out early. Seal the attic and the house holds its temperature, so 69 costs less than 78 did.
Ever wondered how you cool a house to 69 when it is 100 outside? Insulation. Nothing else does it.
Who comes to your door
Twenty minutes, your bill and your attic. We are not the people who put the panels on.
25 years in solar. Spray-foamed his own attic first, then sized his panels.
My only goal is to give you clarity. Once it’s clear, you’ll make the best decision.
Built USA SOLAR so homeowners can see what is going on in their homes.
I’m a troubleshooter. I run diagnostics for the homeowner.
Your attic is out of sight. Its insulation should not be out of mind. Understand what is already there, where coverage may be uneven, and what an appropriate upgrade could look like.
Foam on the roof deckRaftersWhere the deck meets the wallIt is rarely anyone's fault. There are four ordinary reasons.
R-value measures insulation's resistance to heat flow. R-49 describes the insulation's thermal resistance, not a percentage discount on your energy bill.5
The appropriate target and installation specification depend on your home, climate, existing insulation, and selected material.
The same attic from the same camera angle. Illustrative. Not a real home and not a measurement.
Neither is always better. Here is how they compare, and when each makes sense.
R-value is how well insulation resists heat flow. The higher the number, the better it resists.5
Here is the honest part. Florida's current code asks for R-38 in new homes, not R-49. Florida did not adopt the newer national figure. R-49 is ENERGY STAR's recommendation and the national model code's number. It is also ours.8,6
Why we pick it: ENERGY STAR and the 2021 model code both land on R-49 for Florida's climate zone, and DOE's range for the zone includes it. We would rather insulate to the national level than to the minimum.5,2,7
The southern tip of Florida is climate zone 1, where ENERGY STAR and the model code say R-30 for an attic with none. We tell you your zone at your audit.5,2,8
Home energy solutions
Three insulation options. One performance target.
14 in
Example R-49 batt thickness
14.7 in
Example initial installation depth; 13.2 in minimum settled depth
~7 in
Illustrative depth at about R-7 per inch
Product examples, not universal depths. Follow the selected product’s R-value, coverage chart and local code. Examples: Owens Corning · Greenfiber SupremePlus · Huntsman Building Solutions
The home efficiency audit looks at five things in and around your attic.
After the visit you get a private Home Energy Intelligence Report with a link that is only yours. The attic part is called "Your attic." Under "What the photos show," every line is labelled "AI observation from photos, not verified," so you can tell it from what an inspector confirmed. Here is what each line means.
We look at your attic and note what is there.
We recommend a target and a material for your home.
We plan what your attic needs before any insulation goes in.
The upgrade is installed to the specification and the finished work is recorded.
What happens above the ceiling is part of how a home feels below it. A clearer picture of your attic helps you make an informed decision about your home's comfort.
A short narrated walk-through of how an attic upgrade works, voiced by the Energy Mike AI guide. About three minutes.
R-value is how well insulation resists heat flow. R-49 is a thermal resistance rating. It is not a savings percentage.5
It depends on your home, your climate zone and what is in your attic now. For most of Florida (climate zone 2), ENERGY STAR recommends R-49 for an attic with no insulation, and the 2021 national model code uses R-49. Florida's current code asks for R-38 in new homes. An assessment looks at your attic and says what suits it.5,2,6
Often, yes. The foam is sprayed onto the underside of the roof deck, so insulation that is already on the attic floor does not have to be removed for it. What matters is the condition of the roof deck and what else is in the attic: wet or damp insulation, for example, needs its cause fixed first.13
Spray foam on the roof deck seals the roof plane as it goes, and DOE calls it an excellent air barrier. Whether other air-sealing work is part of your project is confirmed in writing at your assessment.4
That depends on your target R-value, the material and what is already in your attic. The same R-value takes a different thickness in different materials, so we do not quote a depth before looking.
The size of your attic, what is in it now, how easy it is to reach, the material, the target R-value and any preparation it needs. This page does not quote prices.
USA SOLAR contacts you by the method you chose to arrange a time to look at your attic.
Share a few details about your home and request the next step.
Prefer to answer a few questions first? Take the free Home Energy Intelligence Report.
Numbers in brackets point to these. We checked each one against the document itself.
Home model: “American House” by AleixoAlonso, CC BY 4.0 (Sketchfab), changed by us: roof opened, framing, equipment and lighting added. Sky lighting: Poly Haven, CC0. The opening photograph is a generated image. All images are illustrative.
