types of home insulation
heating, ventilation, insulation terms
installing home insulation
blown in wall insulation
attic & wall home insulation materials
home wall & attic thermal insulation
home weatherization
hvac - heating, cooling systems
home insulation overview
r-value of insulating materials
INSTALLING BUILDING INSULATION
Due to the variety of building insulation materials available and the various building elements that may require insulation, there are a number of ways of installing building insulation.
Where to insulate
Where to insulate depends on where your living or conditioned space (the space that you heat and air-condition) ends and where your unconditioned space begins. Treat unconditioned space as if it were outdoors. Insulate the living space as if you were insulating from the outdoors. For example, if your crawlspace is unheated, and you want it to stay that way, then make sure it has adequate ventilation, and insulate the floor above. If your attic is unheated, and you want it to stay that way, also make sure it has adequate ventilation, and insulate between and over the floor joists.
If you occasionally want to heat only some sections of the living space, you should insulate the walls between the sections you want to heat and the sections you don't want to heat.
If the basement space is unheated, it may be best to insulate between floor joists (basement ceiling) instead of around the foundation (basement floor and walls). There is no harm done in insulating both the ceiling, and the floor and walls.
If you are curious what kind of insulation already exists, here are some ways to inspect your walls for insulation:
* Remove electrical cover plates and look through gap on side of electrical box.
* Remove piece of siding and sheathing.
* Drill hole in interior or exterior wall and extract sample.
Location of structural insulation
Thermal insulation works best on the outside of the structure, as this allows walls, floors and ceilings to stay closer to room temperature, thus preventing condensation in the living area of the house.
A well-insulated house requires a vapor barrier because of the risk of condensation on cold parts of the structure with resulting damage, such as mold and rot. The vapor barrier is usually a sealed plastic film inside the wall and should go on the warm side of the insulation.
A vapor barrier must be continuous to be effective. Seams must be closed between sheets or panels.
The highest R-values per inch are provided by spray foam and rigid panel insulation. These are still only conductive thermal insulators, not radiant barriers, except in the case of rigid panels that have a reflective metal facing.
Insulating ducts and pipes
Insulate all ducts and water supply pipes where they pass through unconditioned spaces, such as through an attic or crawlspace that is not heated or air-conditioned. This includes heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and return ducts, and both cold and hot water supply pipes.
You may want to wrap your water heater in a nonflammable thermal blanket, especially if you have an older, inefficient water heater that does not have much internal insulation.
Insulating exterior of foundation
Ideally, a home should have poured concrete walls, waterproofing, and 2-inch rigid foam panels. Complete retrofit foundation insulation may be prohibitively expensive. Since most of the heat loss from a foundation occurs where the foundation is above grade and exposed, you can partially insulate the foundation wall and still have good results. Rigid foam panels do not have to stop where the siding begins. You can extend them up, underneath the siding, all the way up to the roof.
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