Your house really does need thermal underwear insulation to keep the heat in during winter and keep the heat out during summer. Heat loss during winter increases your energy costs and is bad for the environment. Home insulation is now an important part of building a new house. All new houses must have an energy rating by adding insulation batts or blanket to the roof and insulation batts and foil wrap to the walls. This means all new houses are more efficient and save the environment. Older houses are also encouraged to retro fit insulation batts to the roof area which increase the efficiency and save the home owner money.
A polyester Batt
My friends have a older home that had no insulation at all in it and they use to sweat it out in summer, however they had cellulose fibre installed and their is a huge difference to the inside temperature. The cellulose fibre was blown into the roof cavity filling up the roof joists just like a insulation batt. The difference is they don’t need to run the air conditioner for long and even on hot days the house is cool inside.
A house Without Underware – Heat Loss
- Up to 40% of heat is lost through the roof and ceiling.
- Up to 30% through the walls.
- Up to 15% through the windows and if the widow seals are old even more.
- up to 15% is lost through vents and opening – bathroom fans and around doors.
- The floor can also lose up to 15% of heat.
How insulation works
Insulation works by trapping air and stopping heat transfer through the material. For homes this means warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Another type of insulation is foil that reflects heat, reflecting the summer heat out and flecting winter heat back in to the home. In cold areas reflective insulation is combined with insulation batts or blanket to make the insulation even more efficient.
Foil insulation - building wrap
Types of insulation
- Wool batts -a natural efficient material that is also naturally fire resistant – walls and roof.
- Glass firbe batts and blanket – one of the cheapest – does however, let out an odour – used walls and roof.
- Cellulose fibre - offend combined with some wool fibre – natural recycled product – fire retardant added – used in roofs.
- Polyester – batts and blanket – safe and doesn’t burn easy – used in walls and roofs.
- Air cell – branket – walls and roofs and under timber floors – like a very strong reflective bubble wrap.
- Polystyrene board – under floor insulation – cut the board to size with a hand saw.
Loading ...Install it yourself
All of these types of insulation are fairly easy to install. However make sure you wear protective clothing and a dust mask. While this is true for all of them, glass fibre batts and blanket irritate the most. Any DIY person can install insulation and you should be able to do your whole house in a weekend. Insulating the walls on an existing home is not very practical and is not offend done as it requires the plasterboard to be pulled off and reinstall after the insulating has been done.
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This was a great article to get a basic understanding of many of the types of insulation available on the market. I was wondering which type of insulation rates the best for being insect and moisture resistant?
Roof and wall insulation helps lower total building energy expenditure, creates higher comfort levels for the building occupants and can reduce HVAC equipment requirements.
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