Posts Tagged ‘insulation materials’
February 4th, 2010 | 
Author: The chief gauge of the efficiency of any insulation is its R-Value. Insulation is designed to prevent the flow of heat. The more heat the insulation stops, the higher the R-Value of that insulation.
When compared to fiberglass batt insulation, spray foam insulation has a higher R-value at a given thickness. So this tells us that if we were to put 2 inches of spray foam insulation in the roof that you would have much better insulation properties than if you installed 2 inches of fiberglass batt insulation.
Another insulation type which is known as cellulose fill whether it is blown in or applied by hand, also has a higher R-value than fiberglass insulation of the same thickness. This still doesn't compare to the R-value of spray foam insulation though, as it is almost twice as high as the cellulose fill insulation of a comparable thickness.
R-value is truly important yes, but it is not the only factor that you want to bring into consideration when trying to choose the best insulation for your home. Moisture will cause both fiberglass batts and cellulose fill to lose R-value. Just a small amount of moisture is enough to cancel out the insulating properties of fiberglass batt and cellulose.
Neither cellulose fill or fiberglass will be able to give you the 100% caverage that you really need with your insulation The fact that heat is allowed to pass through these gaps is obvious, but these facts are not computed into the R-values of these two materials. In other words, the actual R-value of installed fiberglass batt or cellulose fill roof insulation is lower than the listed R-value.
Benefits of Spray Foam Insulation
There are no adverse actions of spray foam if it gets some moisture on it. A really cool thing is that it can even prevent leaks in your home as the stuff expands to fill every gap, crack, and crevase effectively sealing your entire roof. If for some reason your home is exposed to pollutants or other harmful airborne things, your foam insulation will effectively keep it out whereas the gaps that are left behind with the fiberglass and cellulose will let it through.
The best part of spray foam insulation is the fact that it isn't really anymore expensive than your traditional insulation materials.
Read more on spray foam insulation kits
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