How to check up on your already existing home insulation

How to check up on your already existing home insulation

Insulation is crucial to ensuring that one’s home remains energy efficient when it is cool outside. Winters can be very cold and it is very important to get the insulation right. With the right amount of insulation, one can be assured of warmth being retained in the home despite the severe cold outside. And with this, the home can be energy efficient, which is not only good for the individual in terms of capital expenditure, but also good for the environment. Without proper insulation done in the house, the energy present in the house might escape through the ceiling or the attic etc resulting in an extra amount of energy being required to keep the house cool.

Here are the different types of insulation one needs to look at:

1) Floor Installation: Insulating one’s floor is another important aspect. A large number of brands are available from Celotex Insulation to certain brands like Kingspan, Recticel, Rockwool and Knauf which are not only big brands when it comes to the material but are also of a very high quality. And the best part about these brands is they give a warranty and quick-fix solutions.

2) Wall insulation: The walls are a very crucial aspect when it comes to insulation. With the right amount of insulation done, a large amount of heat can be retained and this is very crucial. The walls are usually insulated with the help of insulated plasterboard which helps keep the heat inside. There are multiple brands again available from amongst the lot which caters to this requirement, but one of the best ones must be Kingspan K17 and Kingspan K18 from the stable of Kingspan insulation.

3) Attic insulation: In case of attics, one needs a high-performance minimum dimension material which is not only durable but also recyclable and which offers a high degree of resistance to any kind of decay. Knauf Earthwool and Isover Spacesaver are well-known brands for this type of application.

4) Roof insulation: Roof insulation probably is the most important aspect for insulation. And this is so crucial that the quality of the insulation determines how energy efficient the house will be.

In order to further stop any leaks of warm air when it comes to the insulation, one needs to build a box around a fixture and then secure it with the help of spray foam adhesive or airtight membrane to ensure that any form of air leakage is closed securely. The junction boxes which are placed for the switches and the outlets also need to be mounted on top of the perimeter walls to ensure the further arrest of any form of energy leakage that might take place. This sometimes can be quite ugly from an esthetic point of view so if you need to cut in your switches and sockets do it so you minimize air leakage. If necessary, along with the spray foams, gaskets & receptacle trim plates can be installed under the switches.

How to check one’s current insulation for the purpose of leakage

1) Know your material: The difficulty level for this is easy and it is surely a ‘do-it-yourself’ task. Before one begins with the inspection one needs to have a fair bit of idea about the material which has been used for the purpose of insulation. This helps one get aligned when it comes to repairing or filling up the gaps when need be. The two of the most commonly used insulation forms when it comes to the attic include- fibreglass & cellulose blown-in insulation.

(a) Fiberglass insulation: Fiberglass insulation is a lightweight insulation which offers softness and should not settle over time. This despite being the most commonly used insulation type, is not as favourable and energy-efficient as the cellulose installation.

(b) Cellulose insulation: Cellulose installation mostly consists of recycled paper. The cellulose insulation has a tendency to settle down a bit more as compared to its fiberglass counterpart, as this tends to be a lot dense and is blown in loosely! The advantage it offers is, it is environmentally friendly and offers a better insulation rate thanks to it being a non-toxic recycled product. It is also excellent when it comes to slowing down the flow of air, which directly translates to more energy efficiency during cool weather. However, the disadvantage of this is, it is a fire hazard and hence needs to be treated with a flame retardant to keep the fire at bay.

In some cases, attics might be insulated with the help of batts or insulation rolls. The problem with these are, it might get torn and a professional needs to be called in, in order to take care of the replacing them. If budget permits, one needs to go with rigid board insulation like Celotex or Kingspan & spray foam insulation.

2) Ask questions to understand if one has enough insulation: Once the material used for insulation has been figured out, all one needs to identify is if they have enough insulation in place. In order to do this, one needs to measure the average insulation depth with the help of a plain ruler and deriving the proper R-value. The R-value is the measure of the ability of the insulation done to resist the amount of heat travelling over it. In order to have a higher thermal performance when it comes to the insulation, it is good to have a higher R-Value. The depth of one’s insulation to a large extent depends on the region where one lives and the colder the place; the more will be the depth. One needs to also ensure that the insulation is evenly spread and there are absolutely no missing areas.

3) Installation: The difficulty level for this is moderate. If the insulation is completely in a mess, it is always advisable to ask a professional to do it. If not, one can do it themselves.

In order to begin with the process of insulation, one needs to use an insulation blower if blowing in cellulose which tends to break apart any insulation & pushes it using a hose and air. However, if one is doing it by themselves, proper care for installation needs to be taken. With the help of a professional, this headache can be completely avoided.

In order to take care of this professional need and also to buy the materials and brands you require, one can visit www.insulation4less.co.uk. And while one picks and chooses their product, any order above the cost of £300, will be shipped free of charge no matter where the location.