Oct. 07, 2024
Agriculture
Let&#;s talk about insulation! While only a small part of a big renovation project, insulation can be looked at like an unsung hero in the world of construction and home improvement. The right insulation doesn&#;t just keep your home cool in the summers and warm in the winters - it plays a crucial part in reducing your overall energy costs.
With different kinds of insulation out on the market, it can get confusing and overwhelming for homeowners to choose the one that suits their needs best. Which is why we have created this comprehensive guide to picking the perfect thermal shield for your home. We will cover types of insulation, factors to consider when choosing the right one, and tips for making an informed choice.
Understanding the Basics of Insulation
Before we discuss all the different types of insulation, it is crucial to understand the importance of insulation. So how does insulation work? The way that it works is by reducing the heat transfer between the outside environment and the interior of your home. This process is primarily controlled by three mechanisms: conduction (direct heat flow through a solid material), convection (heat movement through air), and radiation (heat traveling in a straight line). Effective insulation will reduce all three forms of heat transfer, in and out.
Types of Insulation
Fiberglass Insulation
This is perhaps the most common type of insulation being used today. Fiberglass insulation is made from extremely fine fibers of glass - which are woven together to form batts or mats, or can also be loosely spun for loose fill insulation. The batts and mats are blanket-like materials that are commonly used in ceilings, walls, and floors. The loose fill fiberglass insulation is spread or blown into place, which is great for adding it to already installed insulation or irregular shaped spaces.
Fiberglass insulation is one of the more cost-effective types of insulation. It can also help with sound dampening, by reducing noise transmission between rooms and from outside.
Cellulose Insulation
This form of insulation is a highly effective and environmentally friendly insulation option for homes. Cellulose insulation is primarily made from recycled paper, usually newsprint, that is treated with fire retardants like boric acid, ammonium sulfate, or borax. It is most commonly found in a loose-fill form, which is small, fluffy bits of fiber that are blown into attics, walls, and floors using specialized equipment.
Since cellulose insulation is made up of 85% recycled paper, it is one of the most eco-friendly insulation materials. It is also an excellent sound insulator, significantly reducing any outside noise. It also is a great way to add in some extra pest resistance.
Foam Insulation
Foam insulation is a versatile and effective insulation material for many homes. Due to the its versatility, it makes it the perfect option if you need insulation in hard to reach areas - such as crawl spaces, around pipes, and irregularly shaped attics. It is also a great type of insulation material to use in areas of your home that are more prone to moisture and water damage. Foam insulation is a great way to resist moisture and prevent any potential damage.
Mineral Wool Insulation
Mineral wool insulation, also commonly referred to as rock wool or slag wool insulation, is a very durable and effective form of insulation for your home. It is denser than fiberglass which really helps with soundproofing and makes it less prone to settling over time. Mineral wool insulation is also very fire resistant which makes it the perfect choice for areas that are more prone to fires.
Natural Fiber Insulation
Natural fiber insulation is gaining popularity as an eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to traditional insulation materials. There are different types of natural fiber insulation such as, sheep&#;s wool insulation which has excellent thermal and acoustic properties, cotton insulation which is made from recycled denim or cotton fibers, and hemp insulation which have great moisture-handling properties.
Things to Consider When Choosing Insulation
One of the most important factors to consider whenever you are choosing the type of insulation you want for your home is the R-value. The R-value is what measures thermal resistance; therefore, the higher the R-value, the better the insulation&#;s effectiveness. You should also keep in mind the area of your home that needs to have insulation installed in. For example, if you want to insulate your basement walls, you would want to choose an insulation that comes in rigid foam boards. However, if you choose to have your attic insulated, your best course of action would be a loose fill insulation material.
Another important aspect to consider is if the area of your home that you want insulated is prone to moisture. These areas are typically the basements. In these areas, insulation that resists water absorption (like closed-cell foam) is a must!
It is important to note that some insulation materials can pose health and safety risks. For instance, fiberglass insulation can irritate the skin, eyes, and respiratory system. We always recommend hiring a professional to install the insulation for you; however, if you choose to do it yourself, make sure that you are using the right protective gear.
If you&#;re reading this article you&#;re likely researching home insulation. This can be a daunting task as there are a number of insulation options out there in the market. Further complicating the process is where and how to install home insulation. What follows below is our simple guide working through how, where, and even why to install insulation in your home.
Insulation prevents the transfer of heat, both in and out of your house. It helps maintain temperature, one of the four major control layers of any house &#; along with water, air, and vapor. Importantly home insulation does not air seal. It is simply there to prevent the transfer of heat. Air sealing is crucial for the performance of any home, as we have written about at length here , so make sure your home is air tight before beginning insulation work.
The most common way to measure insulation&#;s ability to prevent the transfer of heat is via R-value. The higher the R-value the better. We note that R-value is not the only way to assess the quality and the performance of insulation. In fact R-value calculations can often be inaccurate and won&#;t necessarily predict the true performance of insulation in a dynamic environment. Moisture management is also crucial to understand how insulation will perform when moisture inevitably gets inside your walls. If your insulation is unable to manage moisture, you can end up with soggy, wet insulation that no longer has the R-value it claims to.
Properly installed high-performance insulation makes any house more comfortableUnderstanding building code requirements is crucial when figuring out how much home insulation you need in your particular application. For the most part, building code is predicated on R-value. And generally speaking, in northern climates the building code requires a higher R-value. We always recommend paying attention to building code because failure to meet code can create a tremendous amount of problems. We&#;ve written an article here which helps simplify this process.
This is where your insulation journey can get even trickier. There are a ton of insulation options out there. Let&#;s break down the basics to simplify what options are available to you. But before we get to materials, let&#;s discuss the two main types of insulation.
Batt insulation is commonly used for a number of different applications. Batts resemble blankets and are designed to be stuffed into walls at a given thickness and a given width. The installation process tends to be pretty easy, though modifications are often required when dealing with obstructions in your wall like plumbing or electric.
Blown-in or loose-fill insulation is completely different from batts. The material tends to be loose fibers that are blown into a wall or attic with a specific machine. Blown-in insulation generally performs better as it ensures a tighter fit within the wall or ceiling cavity. And it will more easily wrap around obstructions like plumbing and electric.
Below are some of the standard types of home insulation currently in the market
Contact the Havelock Flock for help with your insulation project.
Contact UsThere are a lot of different places in your home where insulation can be installed. Some applications are easier than others and your choice of insulation may also be influenced by where you are installing it. The most common places for home insulation are the exterior walls, attics, interior walls, band joists, and crawl spaces. As we mentioned earlier, air sealing is a crucial component before installing insulation. So regardless of where you&#;re looking to insulate, make sure that air sealing has been done as well.
For optimal energy efficiency and performance, your home should be properly insulated from the roof to the foundation. This schematic shows those areas of a home that should be insulated.
1. Unfinished attic &#; In unfinished attic spaces, insulate between and over the floor joists to seal off living spaces below.
(1A) Insulate and seal the attic access door.
2. Finished Attic &#; In finished attic rooms with or without dormer, insulate (2A) between the studs of &#;knee&#; walls, (2B) between the studs and rafters of exterior walls and roof, (2C) and ceilings with cold spaces above.
(2D) Extend insulation into joist space to reduce air flows. Use baffles to avoid blocking soffit vents.
3. Exterior Walls &#; All exterior walls, including (3A) walls between living spaces and unheated garages, shed roofs, or storage areas; (3B) foundation walls above ground level; (3C) foundation walls in heated basements, full wall either interior or exterior.
4. Floors and cold spaces including crawl spaces &#; Floors above cold spaces, such as vented crawl spaces and unheated garages. Also insulate (4A) any portion of the floor in a room that is cantilevered beyond the exterior wall below; (4B) slab floors built directly on the ground; (4C) as an alternative to floor insulation, foundation walls of unvented crawl spaces. (4D) Extend insulation into joist space to reduce air flows.
5. Band joists.
6. Window jam &#; Single pane replacement or storm windows and insulate around all windows and doors with Havelock Wool Loose fill insulation or at least caulk and seal around all windows and doors.
In addition to insulation, consider moisture and air leakage control in each area of your house.
The answer is yes. Installing home insulation yourself can be an easy process. A lot will depend on where you&#;re installing insulation and what kind of insulation you&#;re installing. As mentioned above, many forms of blown-in insulation require specific machines to do the installation, not to mention PPE to limit exposure to toxic chemicals. However, there are types of insulation that you can install yourself.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Huichen.
Featured content:Look for insulation that is safe, healthy, devoid of toxic chemicals and doesn&#;t require sophisticated machinery. The insulation industry came up with batts as a product for Non- professionals to install so those Products are commonly used by the DIY community. Increasingly, there are opportunities to use blown-in machinery for everyday DIY&#;ers. And Havelock wool we provide a simple machine that really anyone can use to blow insulation into any type of application. We provide all the resources to get you up and running fast to do your own installation project
So you&#;ve identified an area in your house, whether it&#;s a bedroom, an attic or even the basement, that requires insulation. The next step is to determine how much insulation is required for the project. You&#;ll need to know the square footage of the area which is simply length multiplied by width. For example, an 8-foot high wall that runs 10 feet long is 80 square feet (8×10=80). You&#;ll also need to account for the depth of the area to be installed. Standard wall framing uses either 2×4 or 2×6 studs and batt insulation comes specifically sized for these dimensions. So if you&#;re using bats the process is relatively simple. Once you&#;ve figured out the square footage, just determine the framing size and then choose those batts that fit. (One important thing to note is that 2×4&#;s are actually 3 1/2 inches deep and 2×6&#;s are 5 1/2 inches deep).
Determining your blown-in insulation requirements may require you to figure out the cubic footage of the area to be installed. This is done by simply multiplying your square footage by your depth (as expressed in feet). For example, 80 square feet at 6 inches depth is 40 Cubic feet. 80 x 0.5 = 40.
Or you can skip all this math and simply use our simple home insulation calculator which calculates your requirements for either batt or blown-in insulation.
If you&#;ve decided that you want a professional to take care of your insulation project, then you&#;ll need to find the right fit for you. Unfortunately, the insulation industry is filled with professionals who focus on speed, not quality, of installation. Further many professionals only work with traditional insulation products which may be toxic and low quality. However, as consumer awareness has increased around healthy insulation materials there are more installers out there that are willing to work with the proper materials and to do a project correctly. Our suggestion is to take your time when choosing an installer and make sure that their interests are properly aligned with yours. At Havelock Wool, we work with some dedicated installers because of their focus on installing healthy home insulation, like wool, properly. Check out this video that we put together which showcases one such installer.
Before we get into the details, let&#;s look at insulation at a higher level. In terms of the overall cost of building a new home, insulation is roughly 2% on average of the total construction cost. To put it in context this is on par with lighting fixtures and plumbing and less than half the total cost of cabinets and countertops. This relatively low cost of insulation is skewed by the preponderance of very low cost, ie cheap, insulation, in particular fiberglass. This has always struck us as odd given how important insulation is for the performance, health and efficiency of your home.
Below are some headline costs based on different types of insulation. But be aware that insulation costs can vary based on the region that you&#;re in, so it&#;s always important to check what&#;s available in your area to understand accurate costs.
** A board foot is 1 square foot with material applied @ 1&#; thickness. The foam figures need to be multiplied by the number of inches installed eg 3&#; of closed cell foam is $3.00 &#; $6.00 per s/f in the example above.
Contact the Havelock Flock for help with your insulation project.
Contact UsDuring your installation journey, you will undoubtedly run into some new language But fear not, we are here to help. Below we&#;ve compiled some of the jargon and terminology you may run into. Just knowing the basics will help you move faster along your installation journey.
R-value is the resistance value of the insulation i.e. the limiting factor for thermal conductivity. The higher the number the more insulated the space.
Thermal bridging is when outside temperatures are conducted inside and vice versa. Think of a structural metal beam that runs from the outside, in. When that beam transports cold air to the inside of the structure &#; that is thermal bridging.
Air tightness is an increasingly measured element in building. An air-tight structure is considered more efficient. Often it is.
A convective loop is the cycle of air inside a room resulting in heat loss. Warm air rises, cold air flows downward.
Wind washing is when wind drive blows air through walls and insulation. Not only can this make your home cold (or hot) but it can also cause condensation.
Vapor drive diffuses moisture vapor into and through walls which causes condensation. It can move from outside to inside a house or inside to outside.
Types of Insulation:
Batts are precut insulation designed to fit into specific cavities.
Loose-fill is a blown application generally seen to reduce the potential for gaps in cavities.
Facing is a covering applied to one side of insulation. Popular with fiberglass&#; not necessary for wool.
A vapor barrier is any material (typically a poly film) used to resist the diffusion of moisture (or vapor drive&#; see above!)
Insulation Metrics:
R-Value (again) measures insulation&#;s resistance to heat flow. As R-value increases, the better the insulation resists the transfer of heat.
Flame spread and smoke development measure resistance to flame and how much smoke is developed. Most insulation conforms to Class A of the building code by adding various chemicals. Wool does it naturally.
Sound transmission coefficient (STC) is a rating scale used to measure the sound rating or deadening ability of a wall.
Noise reduction coefficient (NRC) is similar to an STC except that it measures a material&#;s sound attenuation characteristics&#;.versus a wall system which can have multiple components.
WUFI is the measure of an insulations ability to manage moisture.
Building Terms:
Joists are lengths of timber (or steel ,etc) arranged in parallel to support floors or ceilings.
Studs are vertical framing pieces, usually wood and typically 2×4 or 2×6.
Furring strips are wood or other material used to level a surface to which insulation can be attached.
Rim joists attach perpendicularly to the joists providing support for the ends of the joists while capping off the end of the floor.
On Center (O/C) is the measurement from the center of one stud to the center of another stud.
Eaves are the part of the roof that overhangs a wall.
Soffit vents are vents in a soffit (underside of an eave) that allows fresh air into an attic.
Baffles are chutes that channel from soffit vents into attic space. This helps reduce moisture in your attic.
Attic vents are placed on a roof to allow air flow.
A ridge vent is installed at the peak of a roof to allow air flow in an attic.
Insulation doesn&#;t need to be a confusing topic despite the best efforts of some players in the industry. The reality is that insulation can be very simple and in fact, most people can install installation properly themselves. Throughout our journey of educating people about healthy insulation, we&#;ve established relationships with a number of other like-minded people and companies. Below is a list of great resources for anyone who&#;s trying to educate themselves about not just home insulation but healthy building in general.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of glass wool thermal insulation. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
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