Insulating
your house or a part thereof, the insulation materials you will use will depend
on many factors which you and your professional installer/contractor will
decide accordingly. The range of reasons starts from costs all the way to ease
of installation.
There
are many materials now to choose from – ranging from man-made materials to
recycled ones and to natural organic ones, you still would need to
differentiate each one. They all have their pros and cons to match your needs.
Choices
These
are usually bulky fiber materials (fiberglass, rock and slag wool, cellulose,
natural fibers, sleek foils, and rigid foam boards) all used to resist
conductive and convective heat flow in building structures.
The
rigid foam boards trap the air to resist conductive heat flow. There are also
other uncommon materials (cementitious and phenolic foams, vermiculite and
perlite) that are used in special ways.
Fiberglass
This
is the most popular of the lot and is on top of the list since this happens to
be one of the favorite materials used in insulating many homes and building
projects. It is used in blankets (batts and rolls) and as loose-fill.
The
loose-fill insulation is from molten glass spun and blown into fibers. The
application is using insulation-blowing machine (for attic spaces or
closed-cavity applications). There is also the blow-in-blanket system.
Mineral Wool
There
are two types: rock wool (man-made from natural minerals) and slag wool
(man-made from slag materials in blast furnaces). Both are 75% recycled and
don’t need other chemicals to make them fire-resistant.
They
are usually made into batts and rolls as well as loose-fill insulation (like
fiberglass). The price is just about right and comparable to the rest of the
prices of the others.
Cellulose
This
is made from materials extracted from trees in their first use as paper. The
materials now are made from recycled paper products (newsprint usually). In the
recycling, makers add borate, sometimes blended with ammonium sulfate, to make
it fire and insect resistant. This material needs no moisture barrier.
Owners
of new homes usually choose cellulose. They are also used in attic
installations as loose fill. It is also
used as dense-packed filling in building cavities (walls and ceilings).
Plastic Fiber
Like
the high density fiberglass, these are made from recycled plastic bottles (PET)
and used into batt insulation. It is treated with fire retardant, although it
melts when exposed to flame.
It is
non-irritating to work with. As batts, they are slightly difficult to work,
however.
Cotton / sheep wool
Cotton
is actually made of 85% recycled cotton and 15% plastic fibers treated with
borate. Some uses trim wastes from recycled blue jeans. It is non-toxic and is
available as batts.
Sheep
wool can hold large quantities of water which is advantageous in walls.
(Repeated wetting and drying can leach out the borate used to resist pests,
fire and molds.)
These
days, there really are more insulation materials made for the many types of
insulation projects all over. Research and development from manufacturers is
still looking for other materials.
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