by Charles Hendricks | Feb 6, 2016 | architecture, Building Science, Indoor Air Quality
Should you use spray foam insulation on your next project? Common questions answered by Ken Wells from Elite Insulation
A common question we face on each job is which kind of insulation is right for the goals established. I asked Ken Wells to answer some of the common questions we face. Here are his responses:
Does spray foam insulation cause indoor air quality problems?
Any improperly installed insulation has the potential to cause or lead to indoor air quality issues. This is why it’s very important to choose your insulation contractor carefully, just as you would with any other contractor. There are also many other building products and home goods inside your home which have the potential to be the source of indoor air quality issues. Spray Polyurethane foam insulation utilizes diisocyanate, which isn’t scientifically detectable after 1 hour of when the foam ins applied. Installing spray foam requires a professional certification and proper equipment to install it. Properly installed spray foam insulation is an inert plastic and is just as safe as the plastic trash bag in your kitchen trash can.
How are R13 insulation different between fiberglass and foam?
Fiberglass works by trapping air inside tiny glass fibers that contain small bubbles of air, which slows the transfer of heat. It’s installed by folding, wrapping and cutting pieces to place in stud cavities. Human installation error coupled with the fact that fiberglass doesn’t hold in heat well and loses 40% of insulating capacity when outside temperatures are below 20° F make it an inferior product in comparison. Fiberglass has been laboratory tested to lose 8% of its labeled R-value right out of the bag, and has a 28% loss in R-value as commonly installed. Spray foam is sprayed by a certified spray foam applicator, expanding into all gaps, cracks and cavities and can adapt to any structural design, virtually eliminating human installation error. Most importantly, it’s an air barrier with excellent thermal properties for your home that seals warm and conditioned air in your home year round.
How much does it cost?
The up front costs for spray foam can be as much as three times the cost of conventional fibrous insulations, depending on your project. The benefits far out-weigh the difference in the up front costs. With spray foam insulation, you will be more comfortable in your home, which for most is their biggest investment. Utility bills are documented to be half as much or more with spray foam, which makes for a quick payback period.
For more questions answered, give them a call:
Elite Insulation (866-841-3034) offers:
Fiberglass Blown Insulation
Cellulose Blown Insulation
Fibergalss Batt Insulation (ask about our R-40 and R-49 Batted Insulation)
Cotton Batt Insulation
Spray Foam Insulation, Through PolyPro Spray Foam
Free, no obligation estimates
by Charles Hendricks | Jan 25, 2016 | Building Science
I do a lot of energy audits for Harrisonburg Electric Commission, they offer them free to their customers. The problems I find in most houses are very similar and are caused by lack of building science understanding. Air leaks in your thermal envelope are the biggest source of comfort issues and wasted energy for heating and cooling. You can find air leaks in your thermal envelope by looking at fiberglass insulation.
Find places where your pink fiberglass is black and this is an air leak.
This yellow insulation shows air moving through the wall from an unconditioned attic into a conditioned space. Stop the leaks and you will improve comfort and reduce wasted energy. It is easy to fix this kind of leak. You can remove the insulation and spray foam the cavity or you can cover the leak with a solid surface material and caulk the joints. These leaks add up quick and cost you a ton of comfort and money. You may hear from framers that you don’t want a house that is too tight. That is true, but you don’t want random air leaks around your house that add up to the size of a window. Control your air intake through your HVAC system and plug the air leaks in your home.
by Charles Hendricks | Jan 24, 2016 | Building Science
Snow may help identify places you are wasting money
There was a time I enjoyed snow – that time has passed. To me now, snow is an interruption in my schedule, plowing a driveway, shoveling many hours, and dangerous roads. However, it is also an easy time to identify energy leaks in your home. Snow may help identify places you are wasting money through air leaks and poor insulation.
For instance, in this house we used to own in Timberville had a major insulation problem in the bonus room. That room above the garage was always a few degrees different from the rest of the house. You can see the snow has melted at the roof / wall intersection from heat coming through to the outside. When we did an energy audit on this house we found that the wall did have insulation in it. It was just installed in a way that allowed air movement and in one case a bridge to the outside. This room’s comfort issues and thermal bridge was corrected by Elite Insulation adding a layer of foam to create an air barrier on the outside of the existing fiberglass insulation. The room comfort was considerably improved.
From the front of the house you can see the trusses in the roof over the garage. This indicated more air movement from the conditioned space. This attic space was not accessible so all we could do when we insulated was to fix the back half of the roof cutting down most of the air movement. You can see there is again warmth coming through the wall at the roof intersection above the porch. Not an area that is easily fixed after construction so make sure you get it right during construction. All in we spend $1,500 fixing insulation problems on this house and lowered our annual energy bills by $500.
At our new (old) house there is still much work to be done. See the melted snow in between the windows on the roof – that is air escaping out of the hood vent above the stove. We need to improve our insulation in the attic to fix this problem. Also you can see we have storm windows which traps the warm moist air escaping from the house in between the window and outside creating condensation. We have a LOT of warmth leaking from out windows. However, this is the last thing we will fix as it is the most expensive and has the longest payback period of changes we could make to the house.
With this particular storm the snow drifts are massive. Nothing you can do here other than hope they do not pull gutters down or worse cause a roof collapse. Our roofs here are designed for 43 pounds of snow load psf. We should be ok now that the snow has stopped, but I will remain nervous until it melts.
Finally, watch how the snow melts on your roof. This will tell you, compared to your neighbors with a roof facing the same direction if you are average or above average with your attic insulation. I know our house needs attention since we don’t yet have R-72 insulation in the attic. If you are building a new house this is the time to get these details right, it will cost you less and save you more. If you have an existing house, things can be fixed to work more efficiently, but there is only so much to be done. The best we have done on an existing home is a 65% reduction in energy use. Let me know if you want help identifying the problems that need addressed at your home.
by Charles Hendricks | Jan 22, 2016 | Building Science, Indoor Air Quality
If your crawl space looks like this:
then your indoor air quality is suffering. You are also paying too much to heat and cool your home. Vented crawl spaces usually have insulation located in the joist spaces. This insulation gets pulled away from the heated surface by moisture in the space, which opens up air gaps and reduces any insulation value at all. The space usually has high humidity levels promoting mold growth. The heating and cooling vents running in that space usually have minimal insulation allowing for condensation to occur in the ductwork, again impacting indoor air quality and efficiency of the HVAC system.
Instead of a vented crawl space in our mixed humid climate, you should have a conditioned crawl space – like this one. Here is an example of an excellently sealed space.
My community’s wellbeing is our main concern, so give us a call for some great referrals to businesses that you can trust. If you are looking to build your home or business, read this post about how to achieve a healthy building through proper HVAC installation.
by Charles Hendricks | Jan 17, 2016 | Building Science
Heating water in the average home accounts for up to 15% of a home’s energy use. So what is the best water heater for efficiency? Should you purchase a conventional water heater with a low up front cost or go to a more efficient unit?
Demand (tankless) water heaters circulate water through a large coil that is heated using gas or electricity. There is no storage tank continuously heating water. There is an endless supply of hot water, but there can be limitations on the number of fixtures that can be used at one time.
Heat Pump Water Heaters transfer energy from the surrounding air to the water in the storage tank. They are most effective in warm climates with long cooling seasons. They will cool a room by 1-2 degrees and dehumidify the space.
Solar Water Heating takes heat from the sun to heat water. Solar systems require a conventional water heater as a backup to ensure heated water at night.
So which is the right option for efficiency? The 13 year cost of a minimum efficiency electric storage water heater is $6,800. Most of the costs are in utilities for this option which can be offset with solar PV.
A on-demand gas unit costs more up front, but the 13 year cost is $5,000 with all of the savings being in energy use.
A solar water system with electric backup eliminates most of the electric costs, but the 13 year cost is $7,000 due to high initial costs.
So based on my research the electric heat pump water heater with a 13 year cost of $4,000 is the winner. This is a $2,800 savings over 13 years and the low energy costs can be offset with solar pv.
by Charles Hendricks | Jan 11, 2016 | Building Science
The profession of architecture is often looked at through the lens of television or magazines – how to make buildings beautiful. However, that is not the true work done by architects. Beauty is a minor part of the equation. Beauty is the part of the design process that can be replaced by purchasing a plan online and giving it to a builder with “a few changes.” Building science is what makes a beautiful building last for years.
A good architect will talk to you first about function over form.
What are your needs? How do you want to use the building? What are the rules that need to be followed, building code, zoning? What are the rules that can be broken? Where will you put your Christmas tree? Do you like to host Super Bowl parties? Do the kids have a dedicated place they can do their homework? How loud is the television downstairs when you are trying to sleep upstairs? Where will you store your stuff? What kind of light will be in that room?
Even better questions can follow a line of building science guided decisions.
How efficient will the house be once you move into it? Will you feel comfortable in all the rooms year-round? How much money will you spend heating and cooling your home? Building science questions are the only questions that have answers that result in money saved. Building science questions almost always address the quality of things that cannot easily be changed once the home is built. Building science questions are almost always the most important decisions that are needed to be made before a builder gives a price to construct the home.
Who sets the building science goals of a project?
Most builders will not be focused on thinking through building science decisions when they are given a set of house plans. Their goal is to build the home in the most efficient way possible according to the plans you gave them. So if they don’t set the building science goals, who does?
Air gaps in ceiling corners
If you purchase a plan online, the designer does not know what site you are building on or the climate you are building in. If you hire an architect that does not discuss building science solutions (insulation types, wall systems, HVAC efficiency, water conservation, ventilation, lighting….) then who will set the standards for your home. Typically the fall back for these solutions are building code, but keep in mind that building code is the worst possible solution allowed by law.
Not all architects consider building science solutions, but a good architect does.
Building sciences require a holistic approach. It is not simply adding more insulation in the walls or attic. Insulation decisions have to be made along with heating and cooling efficiency, ventilation, and window selection in mind. These questions, and more importantly, these answers have to be done holistically or you will create more problems than you solve. Using the wrong insulation in the attic can lead to huge moisture problems. Locating the HVAC ducts in the wrong space will lead to condensation and higher energy bills.
Buildings are complicated, probably the most complicated machine you will ever own. Make building science as important as the countertop selection you are making for your kitchen. Don’t leave out building science during design.
Heating water in the average home accounts for up to 15% of a home’s energy use. So what is the best water heater for efficiency? Should you purchase a conventional water heater with a low up front cost or go to a more efficient unit?
So which is the right option for efficiency? The 13 year cost of a minimum efficiency electric storage water heater is $6,800. Most of the costs are in utilities for this option which can be offset with solar PV.
Even better questions can follow a line of 