Did you know installing insulation in your home can help reduce the energy bills? While improving your home’s energy efficiency, you’ll also be making a more comfortable environment indoors!
How does insulation improve energy efficiency?
It decreases the amount of heat when the weather is hot, and it traps the warmth inside when the weather is cold! In addition to that, each type of insulation has an R-value that indicates its heat transfer resistance.
The most common places to install insulation are:
- Exterior walls
- Attics
- Basements
- Crawl spaces
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Insulation Types
Blanket: Batts and Rolls
This type of insulation can be installed in floors, ceilings, and unfinished walls. It’s done by fitting it between studs, joists, and beams.
Common materials used for this type are:
- Fiberglass
- Mineral wool
- Plastic Fibers
- Natural Fibers
Advantage: It’s very budget-friendly and one of the easiest options to DIY. The best choice for your attic, for sure!
Loose Fill and Blown In
The best choice for already existing (finished) houses, this type of insulation is installed by drilling a hole in the wall, adding the insulation material, then the hole is plugged and the finish material replaced.
Materials used for this type are:
- Cellulose
- Fiberglass
- Mineral wool
Advantage: Perfect for smaller clearings (such as a crawl space), and also unfinished walls and floorings! Alongside the previous option, it’s a good choice if you’re thinking about DYing and it stays within a nice budget.
Foam Board or Rigid Foam
This type is best applied into floors, ceilings, unvented low-slope roofs, and unfinished walls. Despite its installation being trickier, it has the upside of blocking thermal short circuits when installed over frames and joists.
Materials for this type are:
- Polystyrene
- Polyisocyanurate
- Polyurethane
Advantage: Best used for tiny nooks and crannies, these easy to work with and best of all: they offer higher R-values than most materials!
Sprayed Foam
As the name already indicates, this type is applied using small spray containers. It’s particularly good to apply in existing finished areas, around obstructions, and irregularly shaped areas.
Common materials are:
- Cementitious
- Phenolic
- Polyisocyanurate
- Polyurethane
Advantage: It can be twice as insulating as batt insulation, filling smaller cavities to reduce air leakage in the process. In addition, it can also be used around pipes, wires, and frames!
The Three Most Common Insulation Materials
Fiberglass
With a R-value of about 3.1 per inch, fiberglass is a top choice due to its accessible price and eco-friendly quality. It may be dangerous when installing it, causing damage to the eyes, lungs, and skin if not using the adequate equipment or if any piece gets broken.
Cellulose
Its R-value is about 3.6 per inch, and it’s an eco-friendly option since most of its composition comes from recycled materials (cardboard, newspapers, and so on). It’s also a cheap material and it has a high resistance to fire.
Mineral Wool
Just like fiberglass, the R-value is of about 3.1 per inch. But unlike fiberglass, we can think of mineral wool three different ways:
- Glass wool: manufactured from recycled glass
- Rock wool: made from basalt
- Slag wool: produced from the slags of steel mills
Since it has a really low fire resistance, this type of insulation is not recommended for areas where there’s extreme heat. Though if combined with other more fire resistant materials, mineral wool can become very effective as an insulation material.
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