Which is better,
external wall insulation or internal wall insulation? These are the two primary
ways of insulating walls, but it will still depend on the composition of the
walls in your home. If your walls have space or a cavity between them, a good
option would be to inject insulation into them. However, if your home has solid
walls, you will need to add the insulation on the exterior layers of your
walls.
If you do have solid
walls and would like to add insulation to them, we recommend insulating the
external walls of your home, which means those walls that let in the heat or
cold from the outside. You can add the insulation either from outside of the
walls or inside. Wall insulation, when properly done, is a highly effective way
of keeping your house warm during winter and cool in the summer. A
properly-insulated home will not only be comfortable but also allows you to
save energy costs by up to half.
Adding wall insulation
during the construction of a home is the most efficient and practical way to do
it. The Building Code of Australia (BCA) mandates that the required R-values
for the building fabric should be adapted according to the climate zone and the
building site’s height. The BCA will provide minimum insulation levels
depending on your location. For the height of the building site, you should check
the Australian Height Datum for more information on this.
Basically, the type of
wall insulation available will fall under two types – reflective or bulk. However,
it is now common to find composite insulation products that are made up of both
bulk and reflective materials. Aside from the R-value of a product, you should
also check to see if that product can be DIY or should be installed by
professionals. This is particularly important because some insulation products
require the use of protective gear. Aside from this, it is also helpful to ask
if the product has performance guarantees or test certificates.
Bulk insulation
products typically work by preventing the transfer of heat (either through conduction
or convection) using pockets of air or gas. The thermal resistance works the
same whether the heat is coming from the outside into your home or from inside
your home going out. Bulk insulation will usually include materials such as
fiberglass wool, cellulose fiber, polystyrene, and polyester.
Reflective insulation,
on the other hand, works by reflecting the heat flow back to its source. The
material will typically have a layer of foil backed by plastic or paper. Reflective
insulation should be installed facing downwards (for roof or ceilings) or
vertically (for wall insulation), so that there will be a layer of air next to
the foil. This is important because the reflected heat will need somewhere to
go back to. Types of reflective insulation include foil-based blankets or
sarking, foil-based boards, and multi-cell foil products.
With regards to
R-values, reflective insulation will typically have no inherent R-values because
it will still depend on a layer of air for its effectiveness. Only bulk
insulation products will carry fixed R-values depending on their thickness.
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