Building Insulation - How Important Is It?

Buenos diás~

Happy Easter Day to all whom celebrated it last weekend. It is a festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is also the time when you will see many eggs are decorated as it's an Easter symbol that represents new life. I was able to join such fun when I traveled to Europe for a conference and was so happy to see so many kids running around, hunting the Easter egg. 

So I got myself a nice cosy house (using AirBnB), where I spent 2 nights due to the conference, and I was amazed of the environment. The outside temperature was a little bit cool for me but when I'd entered into the house, it was a totally different feeling. I'd asked the owner how is it so, and she told me that it was due to the insulation that were used for their house. So during the nights, I would spent some time talking with them, while enjoying a cup of coffee.

Anyway, the point here is that I want to share how this insulation works with my fellow readers. I believe that with insulation, you are not only going to get the best out of the external environment but also able to save on your electricity bills. Let me share some of the information that I'd got and hope it helps you.

What is Building Insulation?

Insulation in your home provides resistance to any types of disturbance such as water, fire, noise and thermal. With this resistance, it can help to protect your home against unwanted "guest" such as water leaks, loud noises or hot temperature. For example, the more heat flow resistance your insulation provides, the lower your heating and cooling costs. Properly insulating your home not only reduces heating and cooling costs, but also improves comfort. Often an insulation material will be chosen for its ability to perform several of these functions at once. Now we shall try to understand one by one of each insulation

Water Insulation

Water insulation or better known as Pipe insulation are the materials that insulate the pipes against water leaking. You will find most of this installation is done in a commercial building, but there are some houses that have this insulation. 

Where pipes operate at below-ambient temperatures, the potential exists for water vapour to condense on the pipe surface. Moisture is known to contribute towards many different types of corrosion, so preventing the formation of condensation on pipework is usually considered important.

Pipe insulation can prevent condensation forming, as the surface temperature of the insulation will vary from the surface temperature of the pipe. Condensation will not occur, provided that the insulation surface is above the dewpoint temperature of the air; and the insulation incorporates some form of water vapour barrier or retarder that prevents water vapour from passing through the insulation to form on the pipe surface. To prevent the corrosion on pipe line, insulation are required with proper thickness and density.

Fire Insulation

What's behind your walls may be unseen, but don't let fire-rated options for insulation, electrical boxes, and recessed lighting be missed in your efforts to fireproof your home. Fire insulation is a structural application performed in order to minimize possible losses of life and property resulting from fire. The fire triangle comprising three elements as fuel, oxygen, and heat  is sufficient to ignite a fire.

Any items used at homes such as furniture, draperies, wallpapers, etc. are inflammable. The air contains the oxygen required to ignite fire. Heat sources such as burning cigarettes, short circuit, sunlight, heaters and stoves, certain chemical reactions and heat generated by friction as well as any combustible materials reaching ignition temperatures may trigger a fire.

You may use some of these materials such as glass wool, rock wool, gypsum boards, fiber-cement boards, ceramic wool, perlite, vermiculite, glass foam, calcium silicate,special mastics, heat-expandable special dyes, etc. special doors and glass seals for fire insulation.

Noise Insulation

Better known as soundproofing, is any means of reducing the sound pressure with respect to a specified sound source and receptor. There are several basic approaches to reducing sound: increasing the distance between source and receiver, using noise barriers to reflect or absorb the energy of the sound waves, using damping structures such as sound baffles, or using active anti-noise sound generators.

Two distinct soundproofing problems may need to be considered when designing acoustic treatments are to improve the sound within a room (eg. anechoic chamber), and reduce sound leakage to/from adjacent rooms or outdoors. Acoustic quieting, noise mitigation, and noise control can be used to limit unwanted noise. Soundproofing can suppress unwanted indirect sound waves such as reflections that cause echoes and resonances that cause reverberation. Soundproofing can reduce the transmission of unwanted direct sound waves from the source to an involuntary listener through the use of distance and intervening objects in the sound path.

Thermal Insulation

Thermal insulation in buildings is an important factor to achieving thermal comfort for its occupants. Insulation reduces unwanted heat loss or gain and can decrease the energy demands of heating and cooling systems. It does not necessarily deal with issues of adequate ventilation and may or may not affect the level of sound insulation. In a narrow sense insulation can just refer to the insulation materials employed to slow heat loss, such as cellulose, glass wool, rock wool, polystyrene, urethane foam, vermiculite, perlite, wood fibre, plant fibre (cannabis, flax, cotton, cork, etc.), recycled cotton denim, plant straw, animal fibre (sheep's wool), cement, and earth or soil, Reflective Insulation (also known as Radiant Barrier) but it can also involve a range of designs and techniques to address the main modes of heat transfer - conduction, radiation and convection materials. 

Many of the materials in this list deal with heat conduction and convection by the simple expedient of trapping large amounts of air (or other gas) in a way that results in a material that employs the low thermal conductivity of small pockets of gas, rather than the much higher conductivity of typical solids. (A similar gas-trapping principle is used in animal hair, down feathers, and in air-containing insulating fabrics).

The effectiveness of Reflective Insulation (Radiant Barrier) is commonly evaluated by the Reflectivity (Emittance) of the surface with airspace facing to the heat source.

The effectiveness of bulk insulation is commonly evaluated by its R-value, of which there are two - metric (SI) and US customary, the former being 0.176 times the latter. For attics, it is recommended that it should be at least R-38 (US customary, R-6.7 metric). However, an R-value does not take into account the quality of construction or local environmental factors for each building. Construction quality issues include inadequate vapor barriers, and problems with draft-proofing. In addition, the properties and density of the insulation material itself is critical.

Is the Investment Worth It?

Energy bills are set to rise and one of the ways you can help reduce the cost is by having your house adequately insulated. According to the global statistics, over 6 million homes now have cavity wall insulation that is saving people on their heating/cooling bills. The short answer is that getting proper insulation is worth it. The cost of installation is low compared to the amount you will save in the long term. Most people would agree that insulation is not only good for their health, it’s good for their pocket too.

Perhaps most encouraging, however, is the increase in property value a properly insulated house can have. With better insulation comes a better Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating, and those lower energy bills are enticing to house hunters. Opinions vary, but most agree that it can significantly increase the value in your home, such as England from 14% to as much as 38%.

So, provided that you are staying in your home for over four years from installation, it’s safe to say that insulation is worth the investment. Plus there’s the added warmth you’ll feel this Christmas!