Gibson HomeBuilders

Today’s topics are Types of Insulation and methods used to insulate your home properly.

My guest today is Dale Cox, General Manager with Garland Insulating.

This show is designed to educate and answer questions of the listeners on residential design, construction or anything dealing with building, remodeling, repairing and maintaining a home in the State of Texas. So please give us a call at (877) 341-8950.

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Introduction
Electricity bills, oil bills, gas bills--all homeowners pay for one or more of these utilities, and wish they paid less. Often many of us do not really know how to control or reduce our utility bills. We resign ourselves to high bills because we think that is the price we have to pay for a comfortable home. We encourage our children to turn off the lights and appliances, but may not recognize the benefits of insulating the attic.
Why Should You Insulate?
Heating and cooling ("space conditioning") account for 50 to 70% of the energy used in the average American home. About 20% goes for heating water. On the other hand, lighting and appliances and everything else account for only 10 to 30% of the energy used in most residences. It makes good sense to turn lights and appliances off when they are not needed, and you'll save even more on your energy costs if your reduce the amount of energy needed for heating and cooling.
Unless your home was constructed with special attention to energy efficiency, adding insulation will probably reduce your utility bills. Much of the existing housing stock in the United States is not insulated to the best level. Older homes are likely to use more energy than newer homes, leading to very high heating and air-conditioning bills. Even if you own a new home, adding insulation may save enough money in reduced utility bills to pay for itself within a few years, continue to save you money for as long as you own the home, and increase the resale value of your house.
The Crucial Role of Thermal Insulation
Inadequate insulation and air leakage are leading causes of energy waste in most homes. Insulation saves money and our nation's limited energy resources. It can also make your house more comfortable by helping to maintain a uniform temperature throughout the house. Walls, ceilings, and floors will be warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Insulation can also act as a sound absorber or barrier, keeping noise levels down.
It is possible to add insulation to almost any house. You may be able to do the job yourself if the structural framing is accessible--for instance, in unfinished attics or under the floor over an unheated space. Or, you may prefer to hire an insulation contractor. In either case, it is important to choose and install the insulation correctly.
The amount of energy you conserve will depend on several factors: your local climate; the size, shape, and construction of your house; the living habits of your family; the type and efficiency of the heating and cooling systems; and the fuel you use. Once the energy savings have paid for the installation cost, energy conserved is money saved--and the annual savings will increase if utility rates go up.
Insulation Priorities
It is most important to: Insulate your attic to the recommended level, including the attic door, or hatch cover.
Provide the recommended level of insulation under floors above unheated spaces, around walls in a heated basement or unventilated crawl space, and on the edges of slabs-on-grade in cold climates.

Use the recommended levels of insulation for exterior walls for new house construction. When remodeling or re-siding your house, consider using the levels recommended for new construction in your existing walls.

How Does Insulation Work for You?
Heat flows naturally from a warmer to a cooler space. In the winter, this heat flow moves directly from all heated living spaces to adjacent unheated attics, garages, and basements, or to the outdoors; or indirectly through interior ceilings, walls, and floors--wherever there is a difference in temperature. During the cooling season, heat flows from outdoors to the house interior. To maintain comfort, the heat lost in winter must be replaced by your heating system and the heat gained in summer must be removed by your air conditioner. Insulating ceilings, walls, and floors decreases this heat flow by providing an effective resistance to the flow of heat.
Insulation is rated in terms of thermal resistance, called R-value, which indicates the resistance to heat flow. The higher the R-value, the greater the insulating effectiveness. The R-value of thermal insulation depends on the type of material, its thickness, and density. In calculating the R-value of a multi-layered installation, the R-values of the individual layers are added. Installing more insulation in your home increases R-value and the resistance to heat flow.
The effectiveness of an insulated wall or ceiling also depends on how and where the insulation is installed. For example, insulation which is compressed will not give you its full rated R-value. Also, the overall R-value of a wall or ceiling will be somewhat different from the R-value of the insulation itself because some heat flows around the insulation through the studs and joists. That is, the overall R-value of a wall with insulation between wood studs is less than the R-value of the insulation itself because the wood provides a thermal short-circuit around the insulation. The short-circuiting through metal framing is much greater than that through wood-framed walls; sometimes the metal wall's overall R-value can be as low as half the insulation's R-value. With careful design, this short-circuiting can be reduced. More information can be found on the Web about whole-wall R-values.

Building a New House, 
Some Things You Should Know
If you are buying or building a new house, make sure that recommended energy-saving features are included. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) home insulation rule requires the seller of a new home to provide information on the type, thickness, and R-value of the insulation that will be installed in each part of the house in every sales contract. Insulation contractors are required to give their customers similar information. Many state or local building codes include minimum requirements for home insulation. Be sure that your new home or home addition meets these building codes. Also, some government home financing programs require that the home be built to meet the Model Energy Code. You may wish to install insulation beyond the minimum specified in such codes, especially if those minimum levels are below those recommended in this fact sheet.
To keep initial selling prices competitive, many home builders offer standard (not optimal) levels of insulation, although additional insulation would be a good investment for the buyer. The Model Energy Code and other guidelines for new home construction are published by several organizations. Following these guidelines will provide you with a more energy efficient home. These guidelines also describe methods you can use during house design to compensate for energy lost through metal studs in the walls or a large amount of windows. You should find out if your builder constructs homes in accordance with these guidelines. It is almost always more economical to install the recommended levels of thermal insulation during initial construction rather than adding insulation later.

Does Your Home Need More Insulation?
To begin to answer this question, you must first find out how much insulation you already have and then determine how much more would be cost-effective. Many older homes have less insulation than homes built today. A qualified home energy auditor will include an insulation check as a routine part of an energy audit. For information about home energy audits, call your local utility company. State energy offices are another valuable resource for information. An energy audit of your house will identify the amount of insulation you have and need, and will likely recommend other improvements as well.
Your home may have one or more of several different insulation materials. Mineral fiber insulation, including fiber glass and rock wool, is produced from either molten glass, slag, or rock. Fiber glass insulation is usually very light-weight, and yellow, pink, or white in color. Fiber glass can be found in loose-fill and blanket, either batt or roll, forms. Rock wool loose-fill is usually more dense than fiber glass, and is most commonly gray with black specks. Some rock wool products, however, are near-white. Loose-fill cellulose insulation is commonly manufactured from recycled newsprint, cardboard, or other forms of waste paper. Most cellulose is in the form of small flat pieces rather than fibers. However, some cellulose products are so finely divided they look fibrous as well. Vermiculite- and perlite-loose-fill products are no longer commonly used as home insulation, but you may find them in an older home. They are produced by expanding naturally occurring minerals in a furnace. The resulting granules are non-combustible and are commonly poured-in-place.
First, check the attic; then check walls and floors adjacent to an unheated space like a garage or basement. In these places, the structural frame elements (the ceiling joists or wall framing boards) are often exposed, making it easy to examine the insulation (if any) and to measure the depth or thickness of the insulation. It is more difficult to inspect finished exterior walls. One method is to use an electrical outlet on the wall, but first be sure to turn off the power to the outlet. Then remove the cover plate and shine a flashlight into the crack around the outlet box. You should be able to see whether or not insulation is in the wall. You may need to pull a small amount out to determine which type of material was used. Also, you should check separate outlets on the first and second floor, and in old and new parts of the house, because wall insulation in one wall doesn't necessarily mean that it's everywhere in the house. An alternative to checking through electrical outlets is to remove and then replace a small section of the exterior siding.
Next, inspect and measure the thickness of any insulation in unfinished basement ceilings and walls, or above crawl spaces. If the crawl space is not ventilated, it may have insulation on the perimeter wall. If your house is relatively new, it may have been built with insulation outside the basement or foundation wall. However, this insulation would not be visible because it would be covered by a protective layer of stucco, plastic, fiber glass, metal flashing, or a rigid protection board. The builder or the original homeowner may be able to tell you if such exterior insulation was used.
Compare your findings with recommended levels of insulation by following the steps described next.

Making Your Decision
The amount of money you are willing to invest in insulation will of course depend on your personal finances. But remember that the initial investment will pay for itself in reduced energy consumption, particularly where the amount already installed is substantially less than recommended. If fuel and electrical power costs rise, it will make even more sense to invest in insulation. If you are financing a new home, or a major home improvement, you may wish to check to see if banks in your area allow larger loan amounts for energy efficient housing.

The table below provides an overview of most of the available insulation forms, insulation materials, their installation methods, where they're applicable to install in a home, and their advantages.
Table 1. Types of Insulation
Form Insulation Materials Where Applicable Installation Method(s) Advantages
Blanket: batts and rolls
Fiberglass
Mineral (rock or slag) wool
Plastic fibers
Natural fibers
Unfinished walls, including foundation walls, and floors and ceilings.
Fitted between studs, joists, and beams. Do-it-yourself.
Suited for standard stud and joist spacing, which is relatively free from obstructions.
Concrete block insulation
Foam beads or liquid foam:
0. Polystyrene
0. Polyisocyanurate or polyiso
0. Polyurethane
Vermiculite or perlite pellets
Unfinished walls, including foundation walls, for new construction or major renovations. Involves masonry skills. Autoclaved aerated concrete and autoclaved cellular concrete masonry units have 10 times the insulating value of conventional concrete.
Foam board or rigid foam
Polystyrene
Polyisocyanurate or polyiso
Polyurethane
Unfinished walls, including foundation walls;
floors and ceilings;
unvented low-slope roofs. Interior applications: must be covered with 1/2-inch gypsum board or other building-code approved material for fire safety.

Exterior applications: must be covered with weatherproof facing.
High insulating value for relatively little thickness.

Can block thermal short circuits when installed continuously over frames or joists.
Insulating concrete forms (ICFs)
Foam boards or foam blocks Unfinished walls, including foundation walls, for new construction. Installed as part of the building structure. Insulation is literally built into the home's walls, creating high thermal resistance.
Loose-fill
Cellulose
Fiberglass
Mineral (rock or slag) wool
Enclosed existing wall or open new wall cavities;
unfinished attic floors;
hard-to-reach places. Blown into place using special equipment; sometimes poured in. Good for adding insulation to existing finished areas, irregularly shaped areas, and around obstructions.
Reflective system
Foil-faced kraft paper, plastic film, polyethylene bubbles, or cardboard Unfinished walls, ceilings, and floors. Foils, films, or papers: fitted between wood-frame studs, joists, and beams Do-it-yourself.

All suitable for framing at standard spacing. Bubble-form suitable if framing is irregular or if obstructions are present.

Most effective at preventing downward heat flow; however, effectiveness depends on spacing.
Rigid fibrous or fiber insulation
Fiberglass
Mineral (rock or slag) wool
Ducts in unconditioned spaces and other places requiring insulation that can withstand high temperatures. HVAC contractors fabricate the insulation into ducts either at their shops or at the job sites. Can withstand high temperatures.
Sprayed foam and foamed-in-place
Cementitious
Phenolic
Polyisocyanurate
Polyurethane
Enclosed existing wall or open new wall cavities;
unfinished attic floors. Applied using small spray containers or in larger quantities as a pressure sprayed (foamed-in-place) product. Good for adding insulation to existing finished areas, irregularly shaped areas, and around obstructions.
Structural insulated panels (SIPs)
Foam board or liquid foam insulation core
Straw core insulation
Unfinished walls, ceilings, floors, and roofs for new construction. Builders connect them together to construct a house. SIP-built houses provide superior and uniform insulation compared to more traditional construction methods; they also take less time to build.