Well, summer is over but the important work is just beginning — the work that can save you money.

Home improvement this time of year often involves improving your homes insulation in some way. This is a good time of year to get into the attic and check out how much insulation you really do have. Is the insulation laid out even, or does it have a few holes or areas that need to be tidied up?

The warmer days of spring and summer make it hard to do anything in the attic. It just gets too hot up there to do any work. If you did find yourself up there to add an exhaust fan or add a new ceiling light fixture you most likely disturbed the insulation and didn’t take the time to re-arrange it.

That’s sounds like me on my last visit to my own attic. It was so hot up there all I did was just what was required to re-wire the living room light and I got the heck out of there. In most cases you can’t go wrong adding more insulation to your attic. Unless you just did it within the last few years.

Adding more insulation to your attic is pretty easy and very cheap. You can blow it in or add more layers from a bundle of fiberglass bats. Cutting open a bundle of insulation and distributing it around the attic is fairly easy just don’t step off the rafters and fall through the ceiling.

Blowing it in is easy too. You just drag a fat hose up there and the whole thing works like a leaf blower. Kind of like watering the lawn, you hold the hose and wave it around. Someone needs to be downstairs feeding the machine with chunks of insulation while someone is up in the attic doing the dusty work.

Most building supply retailers have the machines to rent and the insulation you need to feed them. If you tell them how many square feet your ceiling is they can tell you how much insulation you will need. This relates to how many bundles or bales you’ll to need. You will have to take a look at what’s up there so you can tell them what is currently there and they can fill you in on what they suggest you’ll need to bring it up to current requirements.

You only need a quick peek to see what you have. At this point crawling around isn’t required yet. If it’s really deep, like 18 inches or so, it’s probably okay. If it’s only eight inches then plan to add some more because that’s not enough. You can judge for yourself. It’s one of those things where you make the call regardless of the time and trouble — it’s your house.

If you don’t think crawling around up there isn’t your thing then call an insulation company to do it for you. Or do what my father did many years ago and buy all the supplies and call your son to bring the grandkids over for a visit. Once they arrive hand the kids off to grandma and hand the hose over to the kid while pointing to the ladder.

Last spring my son and I added an extra layer of insulation to his house. Well I guess you know by now that he did it and I stood at the top of the ladder and barked out instructions while never actually venturing through the hole. I thought the more critical job was to pass bats of insulation up and not take part in the distribution. This is a great do-it-yourself project, even if it’s really not you personally.

The point is that we noticed right away that the house was cooler during the summer and so far this year the electric heat doesn’t seem to kick in as often. Anyway, you get it done it is an important job. It will cost a little now but continue to save you big money by cutting the heating costs. Never mind the comfort level.

If you’re like me the comfort level goes way up when the heating bill goes way down.

Gerry Frederick is in the renovation business in Cranbrook