Home Insulation Many houses that have been built since the 1900’s have external walls that have a small gap in between them that is known as a cavity wall.

In a poorly insulated home these walls are not filled with anything allowing hot air to travel through and out of the house. Insulating these cavities will stop the air escaping from the house ensuring the house remains naturally warm. Having a naturally warm home can save a homeowner a lot of money as the amount of fuel required to heat the home will be significantly reduced.

This will ultimately save the homeowner a lot of money, potentially cutting heating costs by up to 15%. Another key area to tackle when improving the insulation of a home is the loft. A lot of heat is lost from the home as it rises and escapes from the house through a thin roof. For this reason it is essential to insulate the loft to ensure the house stays warm, as the insulation traps any heat rising from the house (doing so could save a homeowner over 200 a year on heating bills). Loft insulation can be done by the homeowner but protective clothing must be worn and if there is any doubt a professional installer should be used to avoid any injuries or accidents.

By: Ian Ramsey Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com As well as ensuring your home is well insulated, a home owner should make sure they have the most efficient

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Styrofoam: One Of The Best Insulating Materials Developed If you thought Styrofoam was only for making the disposable cups for your office’s water cooler, you’re wrong. In fact, that’s not even true Styrofoam, it’s just a similar material that has borrowed its name because it’s similar in manufacturing process. The real thing is a blue tough material that’s popularly used for insulation. Proper insulation is vital for your home for a number of reasons. It can help you keep the heat in, and the cold out in the winters.

It also prevents water seepage, and if you’re in an area where water freezes in winters, Styrofoam insulation can prevent water from freezing in your pipes. If you’re living in an area where it snows in winters, and the temper drops down considerably, then you cannot do without home insulation. Styrofoam is a brand name of Dow Chemicals for the foamed Polysterene that it developed in the 1940s.

The product gained immense popularity among constructors and builders for its sturdiness and insulating properties. Styrofoam insulation is a low conductor of heat, it is light-weight, can be easily carved into different shapes, and has low water absorption. All these properties make it a perfect insulation material. Styrofoam is also immune to the effects of weathering that affects many other insulation materials. That gives it a very long life, and its light-weight properties make it easy to install and to carry. If you’re looking for home insulation, there’s hardly a better product than Styrofoam. The best thing is, it’s available conveniently from any materials store. You can buy Styrofoam in sheets of different thicknesses and sizes.

There are separate products developed for floor insulation, loft insulation, roof insulation, basement insulation, etc. Styrofoam panels on your wall can bring down your heating costs substantially. They are fire and termite resistant, and so are a safer insulating material than wood. There’s also no smell from Styrofoam so it’s neutral on the senses. Another positive thing about Styrofoam is that it’s an environment friendly. Styrofoam foam is made using Carbon-die-oxide, and confirms to the requirements of strict global warming code. It’s also recyclable, and can be used again and again. So if you’re a responsible and eco-friendly person, this is the insulation material of choice for you. The Styrofoam sheets from Dow chemicals is available in different varieties for different purposes. The most popular are Roofmate, Floormate, and Perimate. The Floormate product is specially designed sturdy material suitable for floor insulation. The product can be installed both below or above the concrete slabs. If installed above, it helps in heating the area faster, and when installed below, it helps in retaining the heat for a longer period of time. While the investment in Styrofoam paneling may seem like an extra expense at the time of building the home, the investment pays for itself many times over as the years go by. In these days of rising energy cost, Styrofoam insulation can save you a lot of money in utility bills. By: Groshan Fabiola Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com For more resources about styrofoam or even about insulation please review this page www.styrofoam-online.co.uk/

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One of the most commonly faced difficulties is how to add insulating material to a loft space when the floor has already been boarded and the loft is used for storage. When you are standing in the loft, the depth of the void formed between the plasterboard of the ceiling below and the top of the ceiling joists is usually about 100mm (4"). Given that current building regulations in the UK require 270mm of insulating glass wool, if a home owner wishes to retain a boarded loft and does not want to use a "spray-on" insulation product up between the roof rafters then there is a choice to be made about which direction to take.

The main choices are between:  1. Building the joists up with additional "packing joists" to create a 270mm void which can then be filled with insulating material and then re-boarded over. 2. Using a solid insulating board cut to fit in the void that exists between the joists without raising the level of the loft floor. 3. Insulating between the roof rafters with either insulating board, spray on insulation products or insulation blanket products. This article focuses on the first two potential methods, and looks at their pros and cons.

Before reading the article, please note that there are a number of dangers associated with carrying out work in your loft and great care must be exercised. Follow all safety instructions available from the suppliers of the materials you decide to use and if you have any doubts about your capability to carry out insulation work in your loft safely please consult a qualified builder or insulation contractor. -Building the floor level up: Pros 1.

If you run the additional "packing joists" across the existing joists at 90 degrees, you are able to run wool insulation over the top of the original ceiling joists) which reduces potential "thermal bridging". 2. The materials are, in total, probably less expensive that using insulating board 3. You retain most of your loft storage area. -Building the floor level up: Cons 1. It’s a big DIY challenge 2. The wood required for the "packing joists" may be heavy and difficult to manoeuvre into position 3. You lose some height in the loft because of the floor being raised -Insulating with insulation board between the existing joists: Pros 5. Your floor stays the same height and therefore no loft height is lost. 6. You retain your loft storage space 7. There are no heavy timbers to work with – Insulating with insulation board between the existing joists: Cons 1. Its time consuming and fiddly to cut insulation board to fit between existing joists (which are invariably, even within one loft, are different widths apart). The cutting to size of the thermal boards usually needs to be done before they are taken into the loft space as access is usually restricted but it is also important that any dust resulting from the cutting does not contaminate the property’s living space 2. Insulation board can be costly (up to 50 -60 a sheet depending on the gauge) and care is needed to cut them safely as the resulting dust acts as an irritant 3. Because you are insulating between the ceiling joists you are (by definition) not insulating over the ceiling joists. This means that where the joists run, your insulation is limited to the thermal properties of the joist timber only and your insulation will be "bridged" by the timber i.e. cold will be able to be transferred through the timber joists. 4. Where a home has been built with traditional 4" x 2" timber ceiling joists you are unlikely to get much more than 90mm of insulation board in between the joists (this will vary from property to property). It might be that if there is any old fashioned electrical conduit that needs to be worked around, you get even less than 90mm in. Issues to worry about include thermal "bridging" when building up the joists to get the required height or when filling between the joists and re-boarding straight over the original joists. From a pure insulation, building regulations and "required effort" point of view the best solution is getting a professional contractor in to carry out the required work. To sum up, if retaining storage space in your loft is important then you can improve your level of insulation but you may have to compromise on the level of insulation you ultimately have and you have to be realistic about the difficulty and complexity of the DIY task involved. Author: Alex Perry Alex Perry is a founder of DownwithCO2.co.uk, which helps people cut their personal contribution to climate change through providing information and contacts Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alex_Perry Colorbond Thermatech technology – [pushpullbar]2 medium to light under BASIX = reflective foil at roof is not required. light colours under BCA = drop of R0.5 for roof insulation. very light colours under BCA = drop of up to R1.0 for. Ceiling Level Roof Insulation Upgrades | Home Insulation Technology Blog Ceiling Level Roof Insulation Upgrades. Roof Insulation Tips Roof Insulation Tips. Roofing iron is a popular choice for many Australian homes, but in the past, condensation even in insulated roofs has cause rust. Inverted roof insulation Has anyone here had any experience with inverted roof insulation? I have a 1955 modern house with a low pitch (3/16 in 12) fef roof consisting of tar & gravel on 2×6 t&g with 4×8’s.

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