Residential Insulation

The attic is one of the largest sources of potential heat loss in a home and often one of the most neglected areas when it comes to insulation, especially in older homes. That’s why adequate insulation is so important. Without proper attic insulation, your energy bills could be significantly higher. Whether your attic is and will remain unfinished, be used for storage, or be finished for use as living space, make sure that it is properly insulated with the right amount and kind of insulation.

There are 2 types of attic spaces, vented and unvented. With a vented attic the insulation is always against the conditioned ceilings or walls. In an unvented attic the insulation is always attached to the unconditioned envelope of the attic, i.e. the roof, gables, dormers and porches. The unvented attic is the preferred choice if the HVAC system is located in the attic, if not then the vented system should be used.

Sound control is especially important in a baby’s room. You’ll want to make sure the room is as quiet as possible to provide a restful atmosphere.

In addition to insulation, you can make the nursery quieter by padding and carpeting the floor, using acoustical materials in the room, and installing a heavy, snug-fitting door. If you’re building a new home, you can move drywall away from the studs and suspend the ceiling beneath its joists to make the room quieter.

Proper insulation in a basement is important because an uninsulated basement can account for as much as 25% or more of a home’s total heat loss. Whether your basement is and will remain unfinished, be used for storage, or be finished for use as living space, make sure that it is properly insulated with the right amount and kind of insulation.

Bathrooms are among the most frequently used rooms in the house. So not surprisingly, controlling moisture is a major concern when it comes to installing insulation in bathrooms. That’s because all of the everyday activity such as showering, bathing and washing adds moisture vapor to the air. This moisture vapor is transferred along with heat. This is especially common in humid environments. When moisture vapor becomes trapped in walls, mold and mildew growth can result, damaging your home and presenting a potential health concern to you and your family.

You can avoid these problems by installing insulation that offers excellent moisture control properties. To minimize the possibility of vapor collecting under the insulation, a vapor retarder is generally installed (according to local codes).

Proper insulation provides the sound control necessary for keeping a bedroom the peaceful and quiet place you want it to be. And nobody enjoys waking up in the middle of the night shivering from cold drafts or sweating from excessive heat. Proper insulation provides thermal control so that you can enjoy a full and comfortable night’s sleep year-round, regardless of the weather outside.

Insulating a bedroom is like insulating most other rooms in your house. It’s a given that you will insulate the exterior walls, but to make your bedrooms as peaceful and quiet as possible, you’ll want to insulate the interior walls too.

A crawl space is an unfinished, accessible area below the first floor of a building. Remember, the main purpose of insulation is to enclose the living space in a thermal envelope. Therefore, if the space below a floor is unconditioned, either the floor or the walls below it must be insulated.

There are two types of crawl spaces: vented and unvented. Vented crawl spaces open to the outside, while unvented crawl spaces are part of the basement. How and what is insulated depends on whether the space is vented or unvented.

In a vented crawl space, the underfloor should be insulated, much as it is installed in ceilings. In unvented crawl spaces the walls are insulated and a heavy vapor barrier is installed sealing the ground from wall to wall.

The garage is an unconditioned space in your house and doesn’t need to be thoroughly insulated. However, to keep the rest of your home comfortable and energy efficient, you need to insulate the wall or walls that separate the garage from the rest of the house. This is the case whether the wall or walls will remain unfinished, or if you will be covering them with drywall.

You insulate the walls that separate the garage from the rest of the house as you would any exterior wall, with insulation that includes a vapor retarder.

If you run a home-based business or are a telecommuter, or even if you just need to take work home from the office occasionally, then you know that peace and quiet is important to making a home office a productive work environment. After all, noise can interfere with your ability to get things done and disrupt phone calls and meetings, and it can also interrupt your concentration. And with computers, fax machines, telephones and other equipment, a home office can also be a source of unwanted noise in other rooms.

To ensure your home office is as quiet as possible for you and everyone else in your home, you’ll want to insulate both the interior walls and exterior walls. You’ll want insulation that provides good sound control and thermal control.

With the increasing sophistication of home entertainment technology, home theaters have become more popular than ever. Recreating the theater experience at home usually involves entertainment systems cranking out high volume sound that could be unwelcome in other parts of a poorly insulated house.

That’s why insulation with excellent sound control properties can make a dramatic impact in a home theater, both to keep noise out so you can enjoy the entertainment, but also to keep music and dialogue generated in the home theater from migrating to other rooms.

In most homes, the kitchen is frequently the hub of activity. In fact, the kitchen is probably one of the most used rooms in your house. With noisy appliances like dishwashers, food processors and garbage disposals, it can also be a source of distraction to other members of your family. For this reason, sound control is a chief consideration when insulating this room.

In addition, as in bathrooms, moisture control also comes into play when insulating kitchens because of the steam generated by cooking and even by washing dishes. This steam is actually moisture vapor in the air that is transferred along with heat. When moisture vapor becomes trapped in walls, mold and mildew growth can result, damaging your home and presenting a potential health concern to you and your family.