Fiberglass House Insulation

We chose fiberglass insulation for several reasons:

• It does not retain water if it should get wet in the wall. (it is essentially glass fiber and does not absorb like cellulose).
• It maintains it original shape over time and does not settle if installed properly.
• Maintains it's R value over time.
• It is non combustible.

We hired a professional insulation contractor to insulate our home. The service included:

• Using expandable foam to seal all cracks and air spaces in the framing and openings. This included door frames windows and any space that would allow air exchange with the outside. They used liquid expanding foam and went over the entire home top to bottom. This foam is very similar to what you can buy in a small can at the Home Depot. Of course it would have taken dozens of cans to do our entire home.

   

• Installing R13 insulation in all the walls and R11 in the interior walls for noise dampening.
• Installing R30 in the flat ceilings that could not be reached properly with blown insulation.
• Installing blown fiberglass insulation in all of the attics.

A few tips on insulation:

• Review the recommendations for thickness and R factors at Owens Corning Insulation prior to choosing the insulation that goes in your walls and flat ceilings (unexposed ceilings). Insulations with a higher R factor may not offer better efficiency. If you put a R 30 rated bat insulation in a 2x4 wall you will lose R value because you have to compress the R 30 to make it fit. The R 30 is designed for a 6.5 inch opening. The trapped air in the insulation is the key factor in it's efficiency. When you squeeze the air out to make it fit you reduce the efficiency drastically.
• Insulate your interior walls and upstairs floors to make you house quite. Make sure you insulate the floors of the upstairs rooms that have hard floors.

House insulation Steps