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Thermal Insulation
Energy Efficiency, Comfort, and Health | Function and Optimal Operation | Components and Options | Batt Insulation | Spray Foam | Loose Fill Insulation | Rigid Foam Board | High Performing Double Pane WindowsQuick Facts
- Protects home from winter heat loss and summer heat gain by limiting heat conduction
- Many homes are not insulated enough or the existing insulation is poorly installed, rendering the insulation much less effective
- As only one part of the building envelope system, insulation must always come after the house has been thoroughly air sealed to recommended levels
- Insulation works best when floors, ceilings, and walls are simultaneously insulated
- Insulation effectiveness is measured in R-value (higher values mean better insulation, but the effectiveness and appropriateness of the value depends on placement and installation in the home)
Energy Efficiency, Comfort, and Health
The building envelope is what separates your home from the outside world. Insulation as part of a properly engineered building envelope can reduce the load on your heating and cooling systems by isolating interior temperatures from exterior influences. This can substantially and cost-effectively increase the comfort of your home while simultaneously making it more energy efficient. Reducing the amount of energy needed to make the home comfortable can be even cleaner than using renewable energy, since the cleanest energy is the energy that isn’t produced or used in the first place.
Function and Optimal Operation
In a non-insulated or poorly insulated house, much of the heat generated by energy-intensive heating systems is lost through the building envelope. Insulation is supposed to protect a home from heat loss in the winter and from heat gain in the summer. Unfortunately, most homes do not have sufficient insulation to help maintain comfortable temperatures in the home. Often, even though a home contains some insulation in the exterior walls or in the attic, the insulation is minimally effective since air leakage compromises the insulation value of insulation. Thus, as important as it is to properly insulate a house, it is just as important to first seal the air leaks in the building envelope. Generally, insulating a home correctly, as a part of a whole home strategy to seal the building envelope, can drastically reduce the home’s need for energy intensive heat from a forced air system. Insulation and air sealing work best together.
Components and Options
Batt Insulation | Spray Foam | Loose Fill Insulation | Rigid Foam Board | High Performing Double Pane Windows
All systems are made up of functional components. These types of insulation are useful for insulating different spaces and situations in a home. As such, different forms of insulation can be used in the same house. It is vital that all sides of the building envelope be thoroughly sealed (particularly floors in conjunction with ceilings), since heat will always gravitate towards the least insulated portion of the building envelope, creating a high pressure system which pulls cold air inside in the winter, and out in the summer. Using the following types of insulation jointly for the varying applications throughout the home will assure all elements of the building envelope are properly insulated.
Batt Insulation
This is the most common type of insulation. It is often applied between studs along a home’s exterior walls. It comes in various thicknesses and R-values (an insulation effectiveness rating). Unfortunately, although batting is generally the cheapest insulation to buy, it is nearly always installed ineffectively. Perfectly installed insulation has 11% less insulation effectiveness than its stated value; commonly installed batts have 28% less insulation effectiveness. While this type of insulation can be useful in certain applications, other types are easier to install correctly and therefore have much higher actual insulation values. [+] MORE
Spray Foam
Since it is sprayed on, spray foam insulation is much simpler to install correctly and is particularly useful in applications such as attic or crawlspace ceilings since the foam will stick to the surfaces. Quality spray foam can offer durable and thorough insulation. In addition the foam itself provides significant air sealing, which makes its insulation value much more effective, since an airtight building envelope will resist convective heat loss (air traveling through the insulation). [+] MORE
Loose Fill Insulation
There are several variations of loose fill insulation (cellulose or fiberglass; wet or dry installation). It can be installed in new homes as well as during existing home performance retrofits, with minimal invasive drywall work since it can be blown in through small holes in existing walls. It can also be blown in attics over existing insulation, although, as with any insulation application, the attic must be tightly sealed to specified targets before the insulation is blown in. [+] MORE
Rigid Foam Board
Foam board is generally installed on a home’s exterior walls, as opposed to inside the walls or on the interior side of the walls. It is generally used either in new construction, when resurfacing or remodeling exterior walls, or for certain types of homes which are easier to insulate from the exterior than from the interior.
High Performing Double Pane Windows
While windows may not be the first thing that comes to mind when people think of insulation, high performance windows, when installed correctly, can have a dramatic effect on the insulation of the building envelope since almost a third of the heat in a home can be lost through low performing windows (including basic double pane windows as well as single pane windows). While replacing windows with high performing ones may not provide cost effective air sealing and insulation in all regions (they will be more cost effective in areas with more extreme weather—hot or cold), it is certainly an important step for attaining the most significant improvements. [+] MORE