House building around the world varies depending on many factors, but for countries where four seasons are coming in and going out of the house, or even those with extreme weather conditions, insulation is an important factor to consider. Inner weather inside a house must be under control in order to keep people living in it safe and warm. There are things such as central heating boilers and hot water pipes to do this task, yet the least you use them the lesser are your expenses, and considering insulation as a helping device to either keep heat inside or outside the house could help reduce dependance  on the previously mentioned heat control systems.

Before going through the many insulation options it is good to consider a review on what insulation is and how does it help to keep your house in perfect inner weather conditions and that is what we are going to talk about in this article, so if you need some advices in this subject keep reading.

Commercial systems used for insulation

First of all the correct term is thermal insulation, and it is a process by which we use some materials to lower the heat gain or loss of a building that is exposed to different temperatures by placing a barrier between the affected areas. This procedure is mandatory for the sake of you and your family members. Also, commercial buildings need to be more energy efficient, and keep  the heat out during summer or inside during the winter, and as we mentioned before, the water pipes and heating boilers, benefit a lot from this.

Processed rock or glass is the most common material for the majority of insulation methods for houses. The way glass and rock are processed consists on melting them down by exposure at temperatures over 1,000ºC; in this state they are spun in order to be transformed into strands of wool, and it stays bound together by using a strong binding agent. The resulting strands is molded into rolls or slabs, while slabs are used for wall insulation, the rolls are destined to ceiling insulation.

One of the many reasons to recycle glass is for it to be processed into strands of wool for insulation purposes, since there is no real need to use raw glass for the making of these strands. This is the reason why glass mineral wool is one of the best green alternatives products for insulation on the market

Insulation in commercial systems come in a wide variety; these are just some examples of the options availables.

Batt insulation

It is important to take into consideration that the process of insulation can be done wrongly. Even if you are not insulating your own house you should know the process and always keep an eye on people hired to install it. Because; if it is not properly done, it is a mistake you will have to live for ever with.

There’s always the possibility of gaps due to the measures of the batt.

Sometimes they are neither long enough nor wide enough to cover all the space that is required to. When the batt is not long enough the proper way to solve it is placing the batt from the top downwards, then the gap at the bottom must be covered with a proper piece of batt and then sealed with tape.

Speaking about width; there are times where the batt is just not wide enough to cover the whole wall cavity. In those cases; you have to cut a piece of extra batt to cover the gap, unfortunately the common practice can be to open up that flange and stretch it out and just cover the cavity with that.

In other cases it is not about the batt being too small or short, but all the opposite. Certain cavities in the house might be smaller. Watch out! The proper way is to cut out the exceeding material from the batt so it fits properly, however the lazy way is to take a whole piece of batt and forcibly place it into the small cavity which obviously will cause loss heat.

Remember that standard fiberglass batts have a thermal resistance or R-value between R-2.9 and R-3.8 per inch of thickness. These lazy ways of setting up the batts will not only cause a problem of heat loss but also legal consequences with the proper inspector on the matter.

Concrete blocks

A series of small holes are drilled into the walls to facilitate the foam injection. Prior to commencing some standard pre installation checks are carried out and sample of the material to be used is taken to make sure of its quality.

By insulating the cavities inside the blocks a high density foam is injected into each column on a 120 pounds of pressure; the foam quickly rises to the cavity filling the column completely the highly pressurized foam will easily travel to narrow cavities caused by poor building practices. The process must be done on every column until you make sure the wall has been filled completely in all its cavities.

The injected foam is solidified within hours creating a solid thermal mass of insulation within the blocks. There will be a continuum degree of heat loss through the solid bridging due to the nature of the design of the block. Approximately 70 to 80 percent of cavity filled can achieved with the unique foam fill system. The insulation process will dramatically improve the retention of heat within your home and make a real difference, a difference you will feel.

Foam boards

Closed cell foam insulation is perfect for insulating a floor system in a shed or outbuilding that has got a wood floor system. Because you get two big benefits from it.

Using two layers of foam where each one has two inches and each inch has got an R-Value of 5. Making this a total R-Value of 20, I know it might sound like too much and you surely have the same worries that I had, that the cells would drip down over time. To solve or avoid this you can include wood blocks attached to the structure where the cavities are in order to hold the cell foams.

The second benefit is this system  is a tremendous vapor barrier and vapor retarder, remember this an outside building and mother nature will draw all kinds of moisture out of the soil and it will surely try to get into the wood floor system and this installation will completely block that from happening. Just make sure you cut it nice and snug between the floor joists and you are going to be in great shape.

Foam for exteriors

The first step before we start doing any foam is with the strip edge on you have to seal it with a silicon sealant on the back side up against the sheathing and the sill plate of the house and you have to put roofing nails to hold it as multiple purposes, one purpose is to redirect drainage from inside of the wall out past the veneer that will be on the foundation, another one is protect from insects and when driving between the layers.

You need to build plywood boxes around all of your window frames to provide a good place to put the ice and water to that you wrapping this with, and a sturdy place for your window. And remember; tape is your best friend here, make sure to use it to seal all the spaces between the layers and the skeleton cavities, especially in the corners.

As you can see insulating depends completely on the actual setting of your house; yet it has so many options that, even while you are tied to optimal choices, there are plenty of elements where to choose from. Hence it does not matter if you are building your house from the very basics or if you are improving your actual one. Just check out each insulation systems available for your house and inform properly before applying the process into your family’s home!

References

Can a thermal printer be used to print bulk envelopes?

Building Materials

5 Most Common Thermal Insulation Materials