When it comes to insulating your home, you really only have a few options available. I want to talk about one of the most common options that is used even in today’s new homes – which is fiberglass batted and blown insulations.
About Batt Insulation:
While fiberglass batted insulation is a good form of insulation, creating a good R-Value (measure of thermal resistance/insulation rating). This type of insulation in your home can lose its effectiveness in many different ways during the initial installation and over time. When batts are installed into your walls, it is not able seal to your wall studs properly, which can create a bypass for air to flow freely. There are also many obstructions inside that same wall cavity, such has electrical boxes, wires, plumbing pipes – which batted insulation has to be cut to fit around, which if it’s not a perfect fit/cut it’ll create a voided area/path for air to infiltrate your home.
IF you’ve lived in an older home at any time and have been in your attic you’ve seen what looks like a detreated insulation – batt insulation can compress over time reducing its effectiveness. Easiest way to think about it is the fluffy is how the insulation has to stay to be effective. Batted types of insulation cannot seal around windows and doors or various small areas properly. This is why this traditional insulation (batts/blown insulation) can lose your cool air in the summer to the outside – or warm air in the winter; causing a major loss of energy and lacking proper performance. One example we like to use is: it’s similar to wearing a wool/knitted sweater in the winter – its thickness can keep you warm, but if you go outside with the wind blowing, it’ll cut through the sweater creating drafts thus being ineffective.
Performance Factors:
Statistically speaking: Did you know that about 40% of a home’s energy loss is lost though your walls and ceiling every day? That is a outstanding rate; it’s basically almost half of your home heating or cooling you are losing. This is mainly caused by air flowing through various cracks, holes and other areas in and behind your walls that are not properly sealed.
Have you ever notice how hot your attic gets in the summer? Absolutely, most people stay out of there in the summer time, nor will they store things in their attics because of the heat alone. In a traditional home 10-years or older, an attic can reach temperatures of 150’ or more in our summers here in Houston. With today’s new technology of a radiant barrier (the foil that you see on most new homes) on the roof decking plus a traditional insulation you attic, temperatures can still reach of over 120’ degrees in the summer. Think about that for a moment; your A/C duct work and components are placed in your attic to cool your home – seems silly when put this way.
Even with your ducts being insulated in the attic, there’s still a 75’-45’ difference from your attic to your rooms inside your home. It would almost be better to have your HVAC system on the outside of your house in the dead of summer – at least then its only 95’ outside, not putting the same type of strain on your HVAC system as it’s traditionally design to encumber.
Spray Foam Insulation:
There is a better performing option out there = Spray Foam Insulation. Spray Foam has been around since the early 60’s. They have been using spray foam in the northern states for years because the way foam creates an air barrier, anticonvulsant thus sealing your home substantially better than traditional types of insulation. You may not know it but you already have spray foam insulation in your home as it is used in appliances such as your refrigerator, the deep freeze you may have in your garage, and ice chests you use for camping. We use it daily in our lives; it’s just hidden out of site.
When spray foam insulation is spray applied wet and expands up to 100 times its applied size. (See our videos on our website or youtube pages to see this happen). By being applied wet in a pliable form – it seals the gaps around electrical components, windows, doors, and studs that traditional forms of insulation cannot. Foam creates an air tight barrier in your home – it now effectively keeps the cool air inside during the summer as well as keeping the cold air out in the winter. We like to say it’s like wearing a warm windbreaker on the same windy day, while it may not be as thick as that wool sweater per say you’re now staying more comfortable by keeping the wind off your skin.
When spray foam is applied in a new home as an whole house option, meaning its installed from the ground up even covering up the roof decking in your attic – you now just created what we call a conditioned space. Typical homes conditions spaces stop at the attics, with whole house foam, your attic is now in its own conditioned space. Remember the 150’ – 120’ attic temperatures in old and newer traditional homes, spray foam now reduces that up to a 75’ – 80’ temperature. It now puts less strain on your mechanical systems & components as well as it keeps the heat outside where it belongs.
Other Benefits of Spray Foam Insulation:
By using spray foam and reducing the air leakage in your home making your home more efficient, you can now reduce the size of your A/C unit as much as 35% without any loss of efficiency or performance. We like to think of this like the newer trucks of a V6-Eco Boost type of motor, same capabilities just more efficient. This new efficiency results in lower electric bills, since your home doesn’t have the same strain compared to a traditional home. Spray foam also adds structural rigidity to your home by joining/sealing to each stud to itself and walls better, making your home stronger. Did you know that foam also has reduces the amount of dusts and allergens in your home – this is huge considering 90% of our lives are spent indoors between work & home. This helps to create a healthier indoor environment. By sealing up these gaps in and to the outside of your home, it now can impede the entry of pests to your home – it’s not as conducive for pest to dig into and make a nest. Spray Foam applications are also used for noise barriers/reductions; it’ll help reduce the noise you hear from outside your home.
As you can see there are many reasons spray foam is much more adventitious for your new home than traditional insulation. Most builders do not use foam simply because of the costs alone. While it is substantially more expensive than traditional insulation – most homeowners will see a return on this in less than 2years. We at Zander Homes not only believes in this product and its efficiency – we want your family to be healthier and happier for years to come. Come and see the Zander Homes difference today!