How to Insulate Your Home
In light of the current energy crisis in South Africa, it would be useful to know how to save energy at home. The Sustainable Home Design website provides some excellent information. When it comes to making your house energy efficient, the single most important measure to take is insulation. This is the material that slows down heat transfer through the external surfaces of your home, making it up to 10°C cooler in summer and 5°C warmer in winter.
When a house is not insulated, about 40% of the overall heat is lost through the roof and ceiling, while 35% is lost through the walls and floors. Minimum levels of insulation will become mandatory in homes through the energy rating legislation of 2007/2008. When it comes to bulk insulation materials, their performance is specified with an ‘R-value’, where the greater the value, the more effective the insulation. In the Cape, the recommended R-value is 3.2 for the roof and 1.7 for the walls. There are reflective foil type products available that don’t have an R-value, but are extremely effective in minimizing heat transfer. It’s important to remember that these require an associated air gap in order for them to work effectively. They are also more effective in summer than winter, due to their reflective nature.
As far as the bulk insulation materials go, there are two forms: long rolls (called blankets), which must be cut to fit the length of space, or pre-cut lengths (called batts). This is usually installed in the ceiling. Recommendations include 100mm Aerolite (fibre glass) supplied by Owens Corning (021 951 1167) or 100mm Isotherm (polyester fibre) supplied by Brits Textiles (021 577 1490). Loose fill insulation has no backing and is simply poured or pumped into a wall cavity or roof space. 100mm Thermguard is recommended here (021 557 4201). Rigid insulation comes in pre-cut boards that are used mostly in the building of new homes and are ideal for insulating raked ceilings, solid brick external walls, wooden floors and concrete slabs. The 85mm Isoboard (rigid extruded polystyrene board) supplied by Isofoam (021 930 5074), or 10mm Kulite (rigid expanded polystyrene board) supplied by Sagex (021 951 1167) and 10mm Isolite (rigid expanded polystyrene board) supplied by Isolite (021 951 6100) are recommended.
From an environmental perspective, Thermguard is recommended over the other products in the blanket and batt categories, as it is recycled paper and has less impact on the environment in production. There are several other areas where you can insulate in your home. For instance, the main pipes can be insulated with products sold at most hardware stores in South Africa. Blankets can be used to minimize heat loss from your geyser. Glazing is a more expensive option when it comes to insulation. Remember that the key is to stop the summer sun from hitting the windows and heating up the air inside, but to allow the winter sun to come in. PG SMARTGLASS provides some excellent solutions and Nordic Windows has double-glazing, which comes in wooden frames, as this is preferred over aluminium and PVC. Wood is a better insulator, as well as a renewable resource with a far lesser environmental footprint in production. Of course, replacing all window frames could be costly, so Smartglass might prove the better option.
The information in this article is courtesy of Sustainable Home Design (www.sustainablehomedesign.co.za accessed 3 April 2008).
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