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Most Savannah homes with a vented, dirt-floor crawl space need one. The ground under coastal Georgia homes stays damp most of the year, and that moisture rises into the crawl space as water vapor. Over time, it can cause musty smells, mold on the floor joists, wood rot, soggy insulation, and even sagging floors. A vapor barrier stops that moisture at the source. Installers roll heavy plastic sheeting across the dirt, overlap the seams, and tape them to help prevent vapor from slipping through. Many pros go thicker than the common 6-mil baseline because heavier sheeting holds up better when someone crawls over it later. Keep in mind that a barrier blocks ground moisture but won’t fix standing water or poor drainage, so you need to address those problems first.

Yes, and you’ll feel it most in the summer. On a July afternoon, the sun bakes your roof, and the attic can climb well past 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Without enough insulation, that heat pushes down through your ceilings, and your AC spends all day fighting it. Good attic insulation slows heat transfer, so rooms stay cooler, and the system runs less often. Humidity also matters. Muggy outdoor air sneaks in through gaps around attic hatches, recessed lights, and plumbing pipes, forcing your AC to remove that moisture while also cooling the house. Sealing those gaps and adding insulation tackle both problems at once. The same insulation also keeps your heat inside on those chilly January nights.

Start by looking in your attic. You probably need more if you can see the tops of the ceiling joists. The U.S. Department of Energy recommends R-30 to R-60 for attic insulation in our climate, which typically corresponds to roughly 12–24 inches of blown fiberglass, depending on the product. Flattened, stained, damp, or patchy insulation also needs attention, since damaged insulation can’t slow heat the way it should. Your house drops other hints, too. Rooms that never cool off, an upstairs that’s warmer than downstairs, an AC that runs nonstop, and creeping power bills can all point to missing insulation, air leaks, or duct problems. Wear a mask up there and step only on the joists.

Spray foam is usually the better choice when air leaks or attic ductwork are the main problems, while fiberglass makes more sense for topping off an open attic floor or insulating standard walls. Because spray foam expands into cracks and gaps, it insulates and air-seals in one step. That’s a big help in Savannah, where many homes have the AC unit and ducts in the attic. With foam on the underside of the roof deck, the attic stays close to indoor temperatures, so those ducts aren’t baking all summer. Most attics do fine with open-cell foam, while denser closed-cell foam resists moisture and works well in crawl spaces. Batts and blown-in fiberglass are proven and simple to install, making them a great fit for walls in new construction and for attics already in decent shape. A good contractor checks your attic, ducts, and moisture levels before making any recommendations.

An insulation contractor inspects, installs, and upgrades insulation to keep Savannah’s summer heat out and your winter warmth in. Most jobs start with an inspection of the attic, walls, and crawl space, where the contractor checks how much insulation you have, its condition, and where air or moisture is entering. Then they recommend a material and install it. Depending on the home, that could mean blown-in or batt fiberglass, open- or closed-cell spray foam, or a crawl space vapor barrier. Many contractors also insulate new construction, upgrade older homes, and conduct energy audits to identify where a house loses energy. Around Savannah, a good local pro also watches for moisture because trapped humidity ruins insulation and feeds mold and rot.