Insulation Materials – Wide Choice

Basically, insulating materials are a compilation of materials, natural and man-made, that are now being used in insulating house and buildings in places where there are extreme swings of weather (extreme cold and extreme heat). All of these materials have been discovered (natural) and manufactured by man through existing technologies today.

All of these materials used to insulate places have their own individual characteristics that make each of them unique. Home builders and their installers use them according to the needs of the project, including the budget.

Also, not all materials for insulation can be used on all the house parts. Some are also chosen due to budgetary constraints. Aside from the listed familiar materials, there are still other uncommon materials (vermiculite, phenol foam, perlite and cementations) used in special insulation cases.

Fiberglass

Today, fiberglass tops the list of favorite materials used for insulation by home owners and home builder in the insulation business. This is made from fine glass fibers used in blankets (either batts or rolls), and as loose-fill.

In loose-fill, the molten glass is spun and blown into fibers using insulation-blowing machines. This is used in attic spaces and closed-cavity applications. They also come in as rigid boards and duct insulation.

Mineral Wool

There are two types of mineral wool, the rock wool made from natural minerals and slag wool made from the slag materials in blast furnaces. They are 75% recycled and do not need any chemicals to make them fire-resistant.

Both of these materials are usually manufactured into batts and rolls and as loose-fill insulation as well.

Cellulose

Recycled paper products (usually newsprint) end up as a very good insulation materials as cellulose. During their manufacture, the makers add borate (and sometime blend it with ammonium sulfate). Both of these processes make the finished product fire and insect resistant. 

This is usually the favorite choice used in new homes and in attic installations like the loose-fill. In addition, they are used as dense-packed filling in building cavities (these are usually the walls and the ceilings).

Plastic Fiber / cotton

The plastic fiber is made from recycled plastic (PET) bottles. The material is a fire-retardant; however, it melts when exposed to flames.

Cotton is made of 85% recycled cotton and 15% plastic fibers. It is treated with borate to repel insects. (Some makers use the trim wastes of recycled blue jeans.)

This is non-toxic and is also available in batts. A good environmental point is that it uses very minimal energy in its manufacture.

Sheep’s Wool / others

When used as insulation, this is treated with borate to work against insects, fire and molds. It can hold large quantities of water which is actually an advantage in walls. However, repeated wetting and drying can leach out the borate treatment.

Aside from the list, there are also other materials that are not common or familiar. This includes cementations and phenol foams, vermiculite and perlite.

There really are more insulation materials in development, made to fit the many types of insulation projects.  These are still in the pipeline in the makers’ R&D (research and development).

Home Insulation – Number One Concern

In temperate and other colder countries mostly in the West, home insulation is more of a necessity than an option. This is because climate changes in these countries are always in the extreme. In terms of costs, it is also better to dispense the use of your electric heaters that can cost you a fortune in energy expenses.

The initial expenses for insulation your home is decidedly substantial enough. However, this one time expense trumps the monthly expenses you have to shell out for your energy bills which do not have any expiration whatsoever.

House types

In dealing with insulation proper, certain conditions need to be considered. New houses at present are now usually built with good insulation standards. In comparison, the older houses built some years back (maybe 20 years ago) can be considered insulation defective.

The new owners are retro-fitting these structured to improve their energy efficiency levels. Meantime, the new houses are all insulated very properly and air-tight as they are. In fact, these houses do not need any heating system at all.

Materials

There are now many good materials that you can use as home insulators. These would include the mineral and glass wools, and on denser forms, they can be used as batts and slabs. (These come in blankets and rolls.) They have about 25% greater insulation index compared to the others.

Another example would be your fiberglass insulation. Fiberglass keeps your home cool in the summer while keeping it warm in winter. The insulation simply resists the flow of heat. Heat as an energy flows out of the home in winter and flows inside in summer.

With the reduction of the heat flow, the properly insulated home uses less energy for heating and cooling. All in all, this saves you energy and lowers your electricity bill.

Sound insulation

In addition, the material can also double up as your sound insulation working as a sound absorber. When installed in walls and ceilings, it can reduce the transmission of unnecessary sound from one room to another or those coming in from the outside.

Since these days are getting noisier everyday, more homeowners are also soundproofing their houses. A well-insulated home means overall comfort. (This can increase the resale value should you decide to sell it.)

Areas

Right now, there are only a few places in your home that must be insured to have a good insulation work. They would include the floors, the walls and the ceilings. With insulation, your comfort is assured while your energy bills go down.

The other places you need to insulate would be your ceiling with unheated spaces, basement walls, floors above vented crawl spaces, cathedral ceiling, floors over unheated garages and porches, knee walls and those in-between interior walls (like the bathrooms).

Other items

When we talk on the exact amount of insulation needed for your house, you need to check on where you live. Look it up from the files of the U.S. Department of Energy and the International Energy Conservation Code.

The materials for your home insulation must possess good thermal performance (R-value), fire safety, and lifetime performance.

Insulation Materials – Choosing What’s Best

When insulating your house (if you are constructing one, or if you have bought a finished one that has inadequate insulation), you need to decide the right insulation materials that goes best with the right parts. (Different house parts have different insulation needs, and your installer/contractor can tell you the best for which part.)

As of today, there are so many available materials to choose from – ranging from man-made materials to organic that occur naturally in nature. However, you need to differentiate each one from the other. For qualities, they each have their pros and cons when using them to insulate parts of your house.

The present materials range in variety that includes bulky fiber materials (fiberglass, rock and slag wool, cellulose, natural fibers) to rigid foam boards to sleep foils. Again, each of these has its own advantage and features that will suit most everyone’s needs.

The following are some of the more popular ones (in terms of costs, flexibility, versatility, etc.)

Fiberglass

Top of the line is the popular fiberglass. It delivers, is good all-around choice and basically one of the most readily available among the materials. They are usually used in blankets (batts and rolls) and in loose-fill types.

They are also available in rigid boards, and duct insulation. The materials had been processed from recycled glass and made into fibers. The loose fill are used with insulation blowing machines (for attics and closed areas). They are also used in blown-in blankets.

Cellulose / plastic fiber

Cellulose is very familiar because it is processed from recycled paper (newsprint) with a high recyclable

material content (82 to 85%). It is manufactured into a fiber to have something that packs tightly into building cavities that will inhibit air flow. It also has a maximum R-value of 3.8 per inch. (Borate is added to make it insect-proof.)

Usually, this is used as loose-fill in open attic installations and is packed in building cavities like walls and cathedral ceilings. It is also blown dry into stapled netting on building cavities. 

Plastic fiber, on the other hand, is made from recycled milk bottles and formed into batt installations like the fiberglass. It is however treated with fire retardant and does not burn easily. It melts however when exposed to flame.

Mineral Wool

Mineral wool consists of rock wool and the slag wool. The rock wool is made from natural minerals like basalt. The slag wool is made from the slag of blast furnaces, those found on top of molten metal.

It has 75% post-industrial recycled content, with no chemicals added to make it fire resistant. The common use is in blankets (batts and rolls) and in loose-fill insulation.

Cotton / sheep’s wool

Many other natural fiber insulation materials are still in use, some of which are popular in other cold countries. The cotton insulation has 85% recycled cotton and 15% plastic fibers. It is treated with borate as fire retardant. Some are from recycled trim wastes from blue jeans manufacture.

Sheep wool is treated with borate for pests, fire, and mold resistance. As home owner, you can always confer with your installer which of these insulation materials is best for your needs.