"Choosing insulation"

Choosing insulation / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Insulation and soundproofing

Does a home need a radiant barrier in walls and ceilings? When is it worth it?

...insulation), and some rigid insulation boards such as polyisocyanurate have them attached on one side to act as a radiant barrier, a vapor barrier, and when taped and not punctured, an air barrier as well. The intention of a foil radiant barrier is primarily to reduce cooling costs by mitigating solar heat gain through...

Efficient home design

Insulation in green home building, a balanced approach to putting it where it does the most good

...insulation is best? Balancing insulation is about respecting the laws of diminishing returns. Example - If I have a wall with just 2 inches of insulation and I add another 2 inches, I will certainly get my money out of it as that two inches doubles my insulation levels. If I have a wall with 30 inches of insulation and...

Efficient home design

Are better insulated homes worth the money?

...insulation and the homeowner would get the savings. I'm not trying to rip on developers, that's just the reality of the business. We shop for houses largely based on the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and square footage; not many prospective buyers ask existing homeowners to cough up their utility bills, or developers ...

Concept and design

Building science for LEED v4 wall design made easy - video

...insulation is installed outside of that. Stud cavities are still insulated with batts, but the majority of insulation is on the outside of the sheathing, this way the vapour control layer is sandwiched between layers of insulation where it can perform best in a wildly varying climate like we have in Canada. There are m...

Efficient home design

Understanding thermal performance

...insulation combinations to minimize building energy consumption, though increased insulation will probably be the best option in most cases. The Big Picture: Energy While insulation R-values are important, what really matters is energy consumption. To assess the impact of different roof insulation types on whole buildi...

Insulation and soundproofing

Rigid insulation panels: which ones to use for different applications

...Insulation Products, Like Hemp Insulation panels or Batt Insulation or mineral wool - demonstrated here in roof insulation. Polyisocyanurate Foam Panels: PIR, polyiso, or ISO, is a thermoset plastic product typically produced as a foam and used as rigid thermal insulation panel - most often with aluminum foil facing....

Insulation and soundproofing

How insulation works

...insulations varies in the range of R3 per inch to around R6 per inch. The higher the number, the more a material resists heat transfer. A typical section of a cold climate wall will be in the range of R18 to R24, depending on materials and regional building codes. That covers the insulation material, but there is more ...

Insulation and soundproofing

Choosing the right insulation: the pros, cons and applications for walls, slabs & basements

...insulation panel that one day we hope will replace plastics based foam as a standard building insulation. And better still is when the natural alternative for these plastic based rigid foam insulation boards is a naturally derived cellulose high-performance panel with a higher R-value than current rigid insulation pane...