You already must know that a home insulation is important to your home’s comfort, yet you may not be aware of the intricacies of having it installed. Not only must you plan for the cost and type of home insulation to be used, but also you must take into consideration the time of year when it should be installed. Although a professional service will be able to insulate most spaces at any point in the year in most parts of the country, you may wish to take the following ideal times into consideration. A nicely insulated foundation will minimize insects, moisture, and radon infiltration problems. Like walls, foundation insulation can be addressed if you decide to use insulating concrete forms and insulated concrete blocks. Basically when building a new home, you might want to insulate the foundation before backfilling.
Considerations for a healthy home insulation:
• Toxic Chemicals
Cellulose is treated with a toxic fire retardant. Mineral wool and fiber glass insulation do not contain toxic fire retardants.
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Spray foam insulation off-gasses VOCs. Formaldehyde-free fiber glass insulation does not.
• Mold prevention
Insulation is part of a whole-home approach to managing moisture and preventing mold.
Attics are one of the easiest and most cost-effective places to add home insulation nut you’ll increase the effectiveness of home insulation substantially if you first seal up air bypasses around chimneys, plumbing vents, wires, interior walls and exhaust fans which places where warm, moist interior air escapes into the attic. Heat has a natural inclination to both rise and migrate to colder areas. Combine these two tendencies and you can see why air bypasses can reduce the effectiveness of attic insulation by 25 to 65 percent. You can track down bypasses by lifting existing attic insulation and checking for dark patches of moisture or dust or head to the attic on a cold day and feel for pockets of warm air or use a stick of incense to check for drafts.
Before installing attic home insulation:
• Use the fire-blocking type caulk and expanding foam sealant to close air gaps around pipes, ducts and electrical wires where they enter the attic.
• Use high-temperature caulk to seal the flashing where it meets the chimney.
• Install weather-stripping around the perimeter of the attic access opening, then use screw hooks to pull the hatch tight against the weather-stripping. Glue rigid extruded foam home insulation to the top of the hatch.
State and local building codes typically include minimum home insulation requirements, but your energy-efficient home will likely exceed those mandates. To optimize energy efficiency, you should also consider the interaction between the insulation and other building components. This strategy is known as the whole-house systems design approach. If you would like to maximize the energy efficiency of your new home, consider ultra-efficient home design. A carefully considered home insulation strategy that considers air sealing and ventilation can improve your home's energy efficiency, which reduces your utility bills. There are many kinds of home insulation, and choosing the right one for a new home or remodeling project requires a carefully considered plan.
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