Tips to Improve Thermal Performance of Your Shed

Insulating a shed may seem a bit silly, but your shed has various uses and adding insulation materials for its upgradation can further increase its usefulness. Significantly, the shed is an extension of your home. Insulating a shed will reduce damage to your equipment and stored tools. It can be used for relaxing purpose or to store plants. Properly insulating a shed requires you to seal gaps, install sheets of insulation and possibly cover them with drywall.

Roof insulation:

Roof insulation in a shed is normally done below the deck and between the rafters. You must be careful about having sufficient ventilation space between the top of the insulation and the underside of the roof.

Floor insulation:

When insulating a small building, shed floor insulation does not normally arise in mind. Warm air rises and, therefore, the roof and the walls are the first areas to consider. However, having a layer of insulation underneath the floorboards will contribute towards keeping the contents of the shed warm.

Doors and Windows:

The standard doors that are supplied with sheds are fairly thin and although they are suitable for use in an unheated building, they may not be capable of stopping the heat from escaping. The problem that will occur with substandard windows and doors is condensation. Thermally broken windows and correctly specified double glazed will eliminate the condensation problem.

Improving the air tightness of the building:

Insulating a shed is not just a matter of adding insulation. You can minimize heat losses by upgrading the windows and doors which results in minimizing cracks in the building.

Sheds are often used as workshops or for vehicle maintenance. For most people, it is used as seasonal storage or small recreational spots where chairs, couches, Television and other appliances are being placed. So, go through these above-mentioned ideas to make the shed a comfy little space. Look for a relevant online store to get various branded insulation materials with excellent customer service as well as fastest delivery of goods.

Posted By Unknown
Label on Tuesday, October 06, 2015

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What Makes the Fiberglass Insulation Perform Better?

In the mid-1990s, when the building science and home efficiency really took-off, people started looking for a long lasting solution to improve their building’s energy expenditure. And, they find fiberglass performing pretty well according to the standards. Easy installation, low cost, top-notch quality and adaptability nature to meet any standard makes it a popular choice among the home owners worldwide. Apart from these, there are certain things needed to be taken care of to obtain optimum performance.

What makes the fiberglass insulation perform better?

Installing an effective fiberglass insulation such as Owens Corning Paper Faced insulation must involve these three things:

• The building should have a strong and an uninterrupted air barrier like taped sheathing.
• The mechanical penetrations and gaps should be fully and properly airtight using the durable sealant or tape.
• The batts should be installed with minimum compression and proper care.

When you take care of these three things, the fiberglass insulation performs better when compared to the other insulation types. Detailing the penetrations wisely and creating an effective air barrier is quite essential to obtain the optimum performance from the fiberglass batts. To minimize the exposure to the dust particles, you should keep the fiberglass in its original packing until you are ready for the installation.

What is an air barrier?

It could be really helpful to compare your home’s air barrier with the air-filled balloon. It is the skin of the balloon that act as a barrier and separates the outside air from the inside air. To hold air, the skin of the balloon must be strong and continuous enough to withstand the air pressure inside the balloon effectively so the building. Recent studies have shown that most of the home’s air barrier are not perfectly airtight, even if the well designed buildings have some air leakage. So, you must set the goal to make the air barrier completely free of leaks as possible.

Safety measures you need to take while installing:

• You should wear long pants, long-sleeved shirt, goggles, sturdy shoes, gloves and a hat when installing the fiberglass insulation.
• If glass fibers get on your skin, remove them immediately by using adhesive tape.
• Do not rub your eyes, if the fiberglass gets into it. Use eyewash solutions or water to flush it out.
• Wash your hands perfectly after finishing the job.

Just follow the concepts that are mentioned above, you could make your insulation perform better, and keep it in service for a longer period of time. Make sure that you buy products from an authentic store, so that you get the true value of your money.

Posted By Unknown
Label on Monday, August 03, 2015

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Top 3 Reasons Behind the Energy Loss in Your Home

Most of the homeowners looking for visible solutions to make their living space highly energy efficient. They start following certain things that might include replacing normal bulbs with the CFLs, changing old home appliances with the new ones, curtains, windows, etc. All of them obviously contribute towards the home's efficiency, still some of the important things are there that saves the most energy but are not in your chart. These are the top most factors behind energy wastage and you couldn't know them as these are hiding under you.

• Insulation: Most of the people looks past their insulation. Depending on the insulation type, the built up moisture could cause it to feel heavy and even moldy. Proper insulation is very important to ensure the insulation doing its job fairly. It acts as a strong barrier between the outside weather and your sealed home. The outside air couldn't enter into your home and you feel comfortable. The bigger upgrades using Pactiv Insulation Board could give the long-term energy saving and a great home to live in.
  
  
• Moisture in the basement: Generally, many homeowners forget to seal the basements properly from the outside atmosphere. That results in air leakage in the basements causing moisture enter into the home from outside. Then, the wet air makes its way into the living space without any obstacle. When you try to heat your home during the winters, the outside air enters into your living areas through the basement. It takes more time to heat your home due to the moisture present inside your home. It leads to the loss of energy. By proper air sealing the concerned spots in the basement, and insulating it, you could minimize the presence of undesirable moisture inside your home.
  
  
• Ventilation in the basement: Basically the vents lead to intruding air. If the basement is not properly ventilated, then air from outside could easily enter inside without any barrier. It brings in the hot air in the summer and chilly air during the winter that makes it quite difficult to control your home's temperature. Proper ventilation along with air sealing your home could well-balance the air flow with sealed control.

The building science has improved a lot in the recent years and keep progressing. You could only imagine how far the progress would go in the upcoming years. That is why you need to keep your eye upon certain things to make your home energy-efficient.

Posted By Unknown
Label on Thursday, April 09, 2015

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Why you Should Prefer Roxul Batt Insulation for your Building?

People are becoming more energy conscious regarding home construction these days. They are installing insulation material that could save money and the energy bills. They are following this technique to keep the heat outside in warm climates and inside in cold climates. Most of the contractors implement batt insulation to improve the performance of the building without any fundamental changing in the construction process. By using the batt method, any contractor building a standard wall frame can improve the wall's thermal performance and air tightness without fundamentally altering the project.

Batt insulation is narrow, fluffy blankets of insulation are installed between studs, joists, or rafters. These are available in three basic types for residential purpose- fiberglass, rock wool, and cotton. Rock wool and fiberglass are considered as man made mineral fibers whereas cotton batt is basically designed for zero environmental pollution. You can find variety of manufacturers in the market sell batt insulation material. Among all of them, the Roxul batt insulation is recommended as the one of the best mineral wool batt for your building. This insulating product is better than others in many ways:

Here are a few reasons why you would like Roxul batt:

• Personal comfort
• Superior workability
  
  

  

Roxul batts are much denser in comparison to other insulating products. These are made from heating basalt rock and slag until it gets liquid. Then the material are spun, col and solidified to form thin fibers. The fibers are less prone to affect the air in the environment that could irritate the skin. The roxul fibers are firmly constructed for slicing precisely and accurate fit in the space. It does not cause sagging which is mostly found in other fiber-based insulation product. It bears excellent water repellent capacity. This is the most important feature of the Roxul insulation blankets, as most of the fiber-based batts simply cannot absorb any kind of water leakage. The insulation gets soggy, collapsed and loses its insulating properties due its own overweighting and the spawning mold growth.

More density of batt insulation on the wall offers other advantages. The movement of air gets reduced, improving the energy performance of buildings required for complete insulation from outside. This in other hand reduces the development of condensation that occurs in cold weather. The Roxul batt is fire resistant and completely resistant to rot, mildew, mold and bacterial growth. Furthermore, Roxul insulation products are made from natural stone and up to 93% recycled materials. Additionally, you do not need a utility knife to slice it, a serrated bread knife can also work effectively. You could easily take measurement for accurate slicing due to its firmness and extra density. This could work out for precise installation, restricting air leakage even on the edges.

All the above mentioned advantages in a single product would cost you more. However, this fact is not applicable for Roxul batts . If you compare, the cost of fiberglass and Roxul having equal R values, the cost is relatively very less. You could buy a better insulating product at less price to get more pleasant working experience, high quality energy performance and easy installation procedure.

Posted By Unknown
Label on Friday, December 12, 2014

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Install crawl space insulation to cut energy cost

One of the easiest ways to cut your heating and cooling costs is by installing crawl space insulation. Although some tend to overlook its importance but it is as essential as attic and wall insulation. This insulation protects the pipes from freezing in the chilling winter season as well as makes it easier for the air conditioning to retain a constant temperature. Maintaining a constant temperature can dramatically reduce the energy cost. In addition to that, it helps in reducing moisture which prevents developing mold and other moisture related problems.

Correctly installed space insulation, keeps the inside air separate from the outside air. This moreover saves you from expensive energy bills. As un-insulated crawl space lets-in large amounts of outside air and makes way for the inside air to escape. This is one of the prime reasons behind high energy bills, because of constantly trying to maintain a standard temperature inside the house.

 
Before insulating you crawl space, the first thing to check is whether or not it is ventilated. Ventilated crawl space was preferred in older times but later it was discovered that they are not energy efficient and trap more moisture. So, ask the experts to help you decide the best insulation for your crawl space.

Installing insulation all by yourself

• Insulating crawl space is simple but you need to take care of few things.
• Seal the entire area under your house
• Double check you have all the equipment like tough pants, gloves, goggles etc.
• If the house is ventilated then seek for a R-value 20 insulation
• If your area in not ventilated then go for a R-value of 10 for insulation

However, if you are unsure or overwhelmed, you could always ask an expert to take care of the insulation.

Prep the area

• Sealing off the area. This is important
• Make sure everything is air-tight. There should be any openings that could allow air to get in
• If the pipes are exposed, then wrap them separately. It keeps it safe in the winter; prevents them from freezing and bursting. During summer months, it prevents the water from losing heat.

Crawl space insulation is essential to protect your home as well as cutting costs on energy bills, repairs and maintenance on the long run. You could set it up on you own or simply call in professionals, to install the right type of insulation for your house.

Posted By Unknown
Label Crawl Space Insulation on Tuesday, November 11, 2014

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