Insulation is one of the smartest investments you can make in your home because it provides year-round comfort and savings in three important ways:
Insulation keeps your home warmer in the winter, which lowers your heating costs. In the summer, insulation keeps your home cooler, which eases the load on your air conditioner.
Insulation can actually absorb sound, reducing the unwanted noise from appliances, audio equipment, conversation and other sources of sound that are transmitted through your walls and floors. Insulation also keeps your family more comfortable by making it easier for your furnace or air conditioner to maintain a constant temperature.
What does insulation actually do for my home?
Cellulose insulation keeps your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter, because insulation resists the flow of heat. Heat is a form of energy and always seeks a cooler area - flowing out of the home in the winter and into the home in the summer. By reducing heat flow, a properly insulated home uses less energy for heating and cooling.
In addition to being an energy saver, Cellulose insulation also acts as a sound absorber. When installed in walls and ceilings, it can reduce the transmission of sound from one room to another or from the outside. In today's noise-laden environments, more and more homeowners are soundproofing their homes.
A well-insulated home increases the overall comfort of the home and adds to its resale value. Whether your
home is new or old, it pays to insulate.
What areas of my home should be insulated?
Insulation is not just for attics and outside walls. Insulation should also be installed in other areas of your home such as ceilings with unheated spaces, basement walls, floors above vented crawl spaces, cathedral ceilings, floors over unheated garages or porches, knee walls, and in between interior walls (especially bathrooms), ceilings or floors for extra sound control.
How do I know how much insulation my home needs?
The amount needed can vary from home to home. If you setup a free energy consult with Casual Comfort Insulation. We can review your home with you, and make our professional opinion on our home's energy efficiency. We will provide a custom plan for your home with options to fit all budgets.
What is R-value?
Insulation is identified and labeled by R-value. "R"
stands for resistance to heat flow. The higher the
R-value, the greater the insulating power.
What are the options when choosing insulation?
There are a variety of insulations to choose from including fiber glass, mineral wool, cellulose, foam and cotton. The two most common types of insulation for residential applications are fiberglass and cellulose.
Thermal Performance - Installed R-value
When insulating a home, it is important to get the R-value specified by the builder or the local building code. It's also important that the product provide long-lasting thermal performance.
While R-value "per inch" is promoted by some manufacturers, the overall R-value installed is what counts. Fiber glass insulation products come in R-values ranging from R-11 to R-38 for fiber glass batts and rolls. Fiber glass and rock and slag wool insulation can be blown in an attic to nearly any R-value. More R-value alternatives provide greater flexibility in meeting code energy requirements in your area.
Fire Safety
Fiber glass and cellulose perform very differently in terms of fire safety. Fiber glass insulation is naturally non-combustible because it is made from sand and recycled glass. Fiber glass insulation requires no additional fire-retardant chemical treatments. The concept of fire resistance goes beyond that of non-combustibility. It refers to the capacity of a material or construction to withstand fire or give protection from it. Researchers, scientists and testing laboratories found that cellulose insulated walls are 46 to 77 % more fire resistant than non-insulated walls.
This is because cellulose insulation does not melt as fiberglass does when the temperature reaches above 350 degrees. Instead, the cellulose insulation's dense structure and fire retardants slow the spread by blocking the flames and hot gases. Simply put, the fire resistance cellulose insulation provides means occupants have more time to reach safety in the event of fire.
Mold
One thing that has not contributed to mold problems is the growing popularity of cellulose insulation among knowledgeable home owners who are interested in sustainable building practices and energy conservation. Mycology experts (mycology is the study of mold) are often quoted as saying: “Mold grows on cellulose.” They are referring to cellulose the generic material that forms the cell walls of all plants, not to cellulose insulation.
Environmental Benefits
The environmental benefits of cellulose insulation, however, go far beyond its recycled content when analyzed from a life-cycle perspective. A life-cycle analysis is an appraisal of the environmental impacts connected with a product through an examination of the product's environmental traits during many stages including pre-manufacturing; manufacturing; distribution/packaging; use, reuse, maintenance; and waste management. In reviewing each of these stages, a life-cycle evaluation of cellulose clearly shows its environmentally beneficial attributes.
