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Insulation
is one of the most important aspects of your homes energy signature.
Insulation, at its core, prevents the transfer of
heat and cold between two differing environments or
surfaces.
Just like a cooler keeps your ice and drinks cold on a
hot summer day, fiberglass insulation preserves the heat
or cool in your home from the outside temperatures.
This insulation, by both Johns Manville and
CertainTeed, is Standard R13 insulation, which is the
standard for 2x4 walls. (As it is 3.5 inches thick).
This insulation comes in Kraft paper backed rolls
that are pressed in to the studs of the frame and
stapled in place to keep them secure.
Since insulation uses fiberglass strands to trap
pockets of air from moving to maintain a thermal
barrier, insulation works best when it is not compressed
or stuffed in a cavity and can take its designed shape
and density.
All exterior walls are insulated in this fashion to
provide an energy efficient barrier against the outside
world.
A side effect of this is also a guard against the
noise of the outside world as well, as fiberglass
insulation blocks noise fairly efficiently.
One unfortunate issue is that our builder chooses
not to insulate the interior walls of the home.
This has little effect on the heating and
cooling, but a significant impact on sound transmission.
With the drywall up, it is very difficult to
install standard rolled insulation without taking all of
the walls down.
One good solution is to “blow in” loose fill
insulation with a machine.
This is fairly cost effective and can be
preformed with a minimum amount of work and drywall
patching, as the nozzle is typically only 1 inch in
diameter.
The final area to get insulation is the attic space.
This space will be filled with much thicker
insulation to prevent thermal transfer between the rooms
of the house and the attic.
A crew will arrive after the dry walled ceilings
are installed to perform this process, as there is
nothing to hold the insulation in place between the
rafters until this is completed.
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