Defining Insulation
Insulation is the one material responsible for adjusting your home’s resistance to heat flow. The magic of insulation happens when a specific material is used to fill the spaces (including small gaps, crevices and difficult-to-reach places like those behind walls) of your home to lessen heat flow either by reflection or absorption.
It’s incredibly important because having good insulation can also lower your heating and cooling costs to an absurd amount! More than that, it is also vital in making your home experience incredibly comfortable, because home is where you should be comfortable.
How Does Insulation Work?
Understanding Heat Flow
Heat flow has three basic mechanisms- conduction, convection, and radiation. First is conduction,which is responsible for the way heat moves through materials like metal, for example, a silver spoon placed in piping hot coffee uses conduction to transfer heat from the coffee to the spoon handle, all the way to your hand. Secondly, convection happens when heat moves through liquids and gases. You can feel this happening whenever you start noticing that warmer air rises, and cooler air (which is denser) sinks in your home. Finally, radiation happens when heat travels in a straight line and transfers to solid matter through absorption of energy.
Knowing what kind of heat flow you want to address is crucial in knowing what materials you’re going to need and what specific systems you should choose from. The most common and easily procurable insulation materials are used to slow down conductive heat. If its convective heat flow you want to slow down, you would need more specific insulation materials while radiant barriers and reflective insulation systems needed to tackle heat flow from radiation.
Also take note that to maintain you and your family’s comfort, the heat lost during winter time must be replaced by your heating system and in summer, the heat gained needs to be removed by your cooling system. You need to properly insulate your home to decrease heat flow by building an efficient resistance to the flow of heat.
Types of Insulation
In choosing the best insulation for your home, you need to consider multiple points of consideration including the following: the location,indoor air quality impact, life cycle costs, recycled content, embodied energy, and ease of installation.
The various types of thermal insulation include the following:
- Fiberglass insulation: This is one of the most widely used types since it can be installed through a blanket system of rolls and batts.
- Cellulose insulation: This is the one to choose if you’re concerned about your carbon footprint and want to help the environment. Cellulose is made of up to 80 % recycled material and is one of the best types for soundproofing.
- Spray foam insulation: Did you know that the air leaks from tiny cracks, gaps and crevices behind your wall can cause your energy bills to skyrocket! Choosing spray foam insulation can help you eliminate all those and save you a ton of bucks in the long run.
- Radiant barrier insulation: This type of insulation was made for warm climates. It is usually installed in your attic or right under the roof, to help your house reflect heat from the sun instead of absorbing it.
- Rigid foam insulation: Rigid foam, or rigid board, as it is sometimes called, is mainly used for new construction insulation projects since it is available as a foam panel that can easily be cut.
- Rockwool insulation: This insulation type is made of rocks and minerals spun into tiny, high temperature-resistant fibers. It’s also sometimes referred to as mineral wool and is used for a variety of applications.
- Icynene insulation: For those who want to maximize energy efficiency, this spray foam insulation is for you!
Where Can You Insulate?
- Attic insulation: To address the location that has been cited as one of the biggest sources of energy loss in homes, you should definitely insulate your attic.
- Wall insulation: If energy efficiency is what you’re after, wall insulations should be your next project since they are also big sources of energy loss. You may also need to use several different types of insulation for the walls.
- Basement insulation: Even unfinished basements hold a ton of potential for energy savings.Choosing the right amount of basement insulation can help you save hundreds of dollars, yearly.
- Crawl space insulation: Crawl space insulation is often forgotten and overlooked. Little do most people know that crawl space insulation can prevent heat from leaking into or escaping from your home.
Benefits of Insulation
When you are able to choose a properly designed and insulation system that’s installed correctly, you immediately win tons of immediate and long-term benefits. Benefits of insulation include protection for your people, implements, system, and even financial plans! The power of insulation can be seen in their ability to do the following:
1. Reduce energy costs
Heat loss can be reduced up to 20 times on hot pipes and surfaces. With current natural gas and fuel oil costs at $7 to $10 per million these days, you’d be saving top dollar!
A massive amount of energy is lost through uninsulated valves, bare pipes, or defective insulation. It seems like one of those things you’d never really address until someone tells you upfront how much money you’re losing when you ignore the uninsulated system on a daily basis.
2. Prevent moisture condensation
When you have a good vapor retarder, insulation can control condensation and limit the corrosion found in frigid piping, ducts, chillers, and roof drains that is caused by water collected and contained within insulation system. You would need proper thickness that would be sufficient enough to keep the surface temperature above the dew point temperature of the ambient air. It would also prevent costly moisture damage to building materials and the growth of mildew and mold that has the potential to cause multiple health problems.
3. Reduces emissions of pollutants
Insulation reduces energy consumption, thus burning less fossil fuels to produce needed energy. This results in decreased amounts of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide released into the atmosphere. Reducing those gases, in turn, reduces the gas emissions responsible for global warming and acid rain, thereby helping protect the planet as a whole.
Insulation and pollution control aren’t often associated but if you think about it this way, when energy is saved, all of the pollution associated with the generation of that energy is also saved. Given the amount of energy reduced by the use of insulation- you’re helping save the environment every time you choose a properly designed and insulation system.
4. Increase safety and protection of personnel
High quality insulation systems will protect the people working in that area by lowering hot surface temperatures and preventing accidental burns.
Thermal insulation is incredibly effective in protecting workers from burns coming from handling hot or extremely cold piping and equipment. When insulation is able to reduce surface temperature of equipment to a safer level, worker safety is increased and worker downtime due to injury is avoided.
5. Reduce noise levels
A well-insulated system can absorb emitted sound,meet OSHA requirements by removing sound at the source and create better work environments by improving personnel morale and communication.
6. Maximizes return on investment (ROI)
The installation of a proper insulation system is a low-risk investment with excellent returns. You will feel this quick payback through cost savings. A well- maintained insulation system can continue to generate savings for the whole duration of life of the facility. Improper insulation of the entire lack of an insulation system will you cost you more. Insulation is normally paid for from the maintenance budget while it also reduces the budget for operations for the life of the system.
You can quickly see the payback for your insulation investment in as quick as 6 months to 2 years.
7. Improve Appearance
Insulation can cover exposed air conditioning and plumbing lines to give buildings a finished appearance.
8. Provide fire Protection
When used in combination with other materials, insulation will be able to help provide fire protection in firestop systems, grease and air ducts, and in electrical and communications conduits and cables.