Energy bills can really drive you up the wall, especially if you use your HVAC system regularly. But by insulating your home, you can reduce your heating and cooling costs by nearly half while protecting yourself and the environment.
Without proper insulation, most of the heat within your home is lost through the floor, bare pipes, valves, walls, and up through the attic. So, insulation is essentially a heat barrier, keeping you warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Suppose you’re looking to install insulation in your house or commercial property or want to replace your installed insulation. Now shopping for insulation can be confusing, as several types are available, each suited for a different purpose. In that case, this guide will tell you all you need to know about types of insulation in Thomasville, GA.
Here’s an in-depth look at the five different kinds of residential and commercial insulation to help you pick the right one for your needs.
1. Spray Foam Insulation
Spray foam is a modern approach to residential and commercial insulation that’s best suited for sealing spaces and gaps on walls, floors, and ceilings against air movement.
As the name suggests, foam, usually in a high-pressurized container, is sprayed on the target area. It then expands and hardens, which helps it to stay in place for long. Spray foam can provide insulation for up to 80 years.
Given its flexibility, spray foam is especially efficient in sealing hard-to-reach corners and spots. It’s also a good choice for already finished homes and spaces. This kind of insulation requires some skill and is best done by qualified insulation contractors. However, you can still find a DIY spray foam insulation kit if you’re going for loose-fill insulation.
As for spray foam insulation cost, the amount will vary with the type of insulation material sprayed, your space, and the Thomasville insulation contractors.
2. Rigid Foam Insulation Boards and Panels
Rigid foam sheathing is another way to seal leaks and gaps, control indoor temperature, and ultimately increase energy efficiency in your home.
These foams and panels are usually made from polyurethane, polyisocyanurate, or polystyrene and have relatively higher R-values than many other options in the market.
This type of insulation is great for both interior and exterior wall sheathing and is usually used for foundation and basement walls, as well as unfinished ceilings and floors.
Rigid foams and panels are more appropriate during construction rather than a finished home. Rigid foam boards are also favored for insulation of crawl spaces, as you can install them around the crawl space’s foundation walls rather than within the area.
Rigid Foam Insulation Boards can also use it to seal large air leaks and wall cavities before performing crawl space encapsulation. That way, the encapsulation, which is often expensive, will work as intended.
3. Blown-in Insulation
This insulation is applied using a machine that blows paper-like material into an area to insulate your space. The material normally varies and could be anything from rock wool, fiberglass, or reclaimed cellulose material like recycled newspapers which conform to fit nearly any type of location, making it great for wall and attic insulation.
What’s more, you can go for this method of home insulation to seal small gaps and spaces, as it usually settles and fills these tricky spots where cold air would otherwise flow inside.
With blown-in insulation, you also reduce sound transfer between the outdoors and the indoors, softening unwanted street noise.
R-values on this type of insulation will typically range from R-2.2 for fiberglass and R-3.8 for dense cellulose insulation. Straightforward insulation jobs may be DIY-friendly if you opt to rent an insulation blower. All the same, it is best to call fiberglass or cellulose insulation contractors in Thomasville, GA, for assured results.
4. Blanket: Batts and Rolls
Blanket batts and rolls are usually used with fiberglass, though variants made of cotton, sheep wool, mineral wool, and plastic fibers are also available. Installing this kind of insulation is cheap and quite DIY-friendly, given that the materials are created to match the standard width between wall studs, attic rafters, and floor joists.
It’s important to note that fiberglass is a lung and skin irritant; you should always wear protective clothing when installing insulation made from the material. If you choose the roll variety, you’ll have to split the insulation into the correct length with a utility knife. The idea is to force the insulation to fit by compression.
Roll and batt insulation is ideal for DIY insulation of unfinished attic floors, walls, and ceilings.
5. Reflective or Radiant System
Unlike typical insulation systems, which resist conductive and convective heat flow, radiant barriers and reflective insulations work by reflecting radiant heat. Radiant barriers are installed in homes as attic insulation, mainly to minimize summer heat gain, which helps lower cooling costs.
Reflective or attic insulation uses radiant barriers – often highly reflective aluminum foils- to make insulation systems with different backings, including kraft paper, plastic film, polyethylene bubbles, or cardboard, and thermal insulation materials.
Radiant heat travels straight away from any surface and heats any tangible thing that can absorb its energy.
When the sun’s radiant energy heats your roof, a huge part of this heat travels by conduction through the roofing materials to the attic side of the roof. The hot roof material then radiates the heat energy and is absorbed onto the cooler attic surfaces, including the air ducts and the attic floor.
Then, a radiant barrier minimizes the radiant heat transfer from the underside of the roof to the other surfaces in the attic. For the best results, make sure that it faces an air space.
Apart from attic insulation, a reflective or radiant barrier is ideal for unfinished walls and floors.
Save Energy While Keeping Your Property Warm and Comfortable with Efficiency Plus in Thomasville, GA
If you are looking to insulate your home to keep it warm and snug throughout the year while maintaining energy efficiency, get in touch with Efficiency Plus for modern insulation solutions in Thomasville, GA.
Our insulation experts are well-versed in different types of insulation for residential and commercial property, so rest assured that we will deliver nothing but the best.
Let our professional insulation contractors help you with your home insulation needs. Give us a call on 229-403-9486 for free project cost information.