Currently I am in the midst of a renovation project at the home I live in the city. One of the the projects in the house required is new insulation on the top floor between ceiling and roof. The home was losing heat (and money) through the roof because of poor insulation.
Maximizing the insulation for your green home is the most important step you can take towards reducing the heating and cooling energy requirements of your home and conserving energy. Many options are available to you, such as fiberglass batt, rigid or blown-in insulation.
There are two products at the top of my list Spray foam insulation and cellulose blown in insulation.
Let us look at cellulose blown-in insulation, which, in my opinion, is one of the greenest options available today for existing homes. Cellulose blown-in insulation is made of post-consumer, recycled paper, most often newspapers. With the new blowers available today, the insulation can be blown in and compacted to a high density. This will eliminate the settling of the insulation, which is what has happened with blown-in insulation applied 10 or so years ago.
Blown-in insulation is the best option to make sure that the insulation is applied tightly and continuously around electrical outlets, piping, wiring and ductwork. It can reduce air leaks considerably, compared to having batt insulation installed. All those special boxes you can buy to prevent air leaks around electrical outlets have been developed to fix improperly installed batt insulation.
Where would I apply Blown-in insulation?
In addition to providing excellent thermal insulation, cellulose blow-in insulation will also provide very good sound proofing between rooms, from noisy pipes, showers and bathtubs. The spaces around bathtub and shower basins can easily be filled with blown-in insulation. Family members coming home late and wanting to take a shower, will no longer wake everyone up when the water runs. Of course, they might still slam the doors.
Insulating the wall between the family room and adjoining bedrooms is another good application of blown-in insulation. You will be able to sleep, while other family members play music, watch TV, and laugh in the family room.
If you have a door to separate the family room, you can turn the thermostat down in this room when it is not used for longer periods of time. With the insulation in between the family room and adjoining rooms, you will not loose heat from the warmer rooms to the cooler family room.
What about Mold?
Cellulose insulation is treated with non-toxic boric compounds to protect it from mold. This treatment also provides fire and insect resistance.
Conclusion
I believe that one of the best options for providing good, lasting, environmentally friendly, non-toxic insulation for your home is to use blown-in cellulose insulation. If you live in a row home or home with attic and suspect poor insulation then get an energy audit done before the next winter.
11/06/2011
I am getting close to wrapping up a second bathroom addition on the 1st flr where I currently live.
The design is based on typical Japanese design aesthetics of placing the toilet in a separate space away from the bathing area and also having a separate changing room. In my design the changing room has storage for towels and toiletries, a basket for clothes, a place to hang your robe and a sink.
That leaves the bathing room with tub and shower that is entered via the shower door.
This addition began with tearing down the original bathroom addition that was poorly insulated,
had aluminum wiring, water damaged sub floor soft enough to put your foot through and termite damage.
I rebuilt on the existing foundation framing with 2x4 pressure treated lumber for the bottom plate and also studs to resist future water and termite damage. I cantilevered the roof 4'-6" beyond the wall with 2x6 studs to offer shade over a small walk out deck,then insulated with r-19 batt and reflectix foil insulation for a combined r-30 http://www.reflectixinc.com/ .
Exterior is T 111 exterior grade sheathing protected with wood stain.
insulation in walls are standard r-13 batt insulation covered with 5/8" drywall. crawlspace was completely insulated using reflectix foil insulation, then double 6 ml plastic over the dirt crawlspace.
Heating is supplied via radiant heat through 1/2" oxygen barrier pex tubing sandwiched between two 5/8" sub floors. Finished flooring is Kimona Silk 12x24 tile from Daltile Philadelphia branch
http://www.daltile.com/series.cfm?series=254
Asian deep soaking tub was ordered from American Reinforced Plastics http://www.arpbathtubs.com/product.php?id=38
Polished chrome Tiamo shower was ordered from Hudson Reed UK.
http://usa.hudsonreed.com/tiamo-designer-thermostatic-shower-faucet-system-with-fixed-head-and-handset.html
Grohe Eurodisk II Roman Tub Filler handles the tub filling duties for the 65 gallon soaking tub.
Toilet room is completed with Toto toilet, and Barclay tina mini sink with Vigo single lever faucet.
http://www.wayfair.com/Vigo-Industries-Sierra-Left-Sided-Single-Handle-Bathroom-Faucet-in-Chrome-VG01027CH-VGU1028.html?refid=FR49-VGU1028
11/06/2011
I am getting close to wrapping up a second bathroom addition on the 1st flr where I currently live.
The design is based on typical Japanese design aesthetics of placing the toilet in a separate space away from the bathing area and also having a separate changing room. In my design the changing room has storage for towels and toiletries, a basket for clothes, a place to hang your robe and a sink.
That leaves the bathing room with tub and shower that is entered via the shower door.
This addition began with tearing down the original bathroom addition that was poorly insulated,
had aluminum wiring, water damaged sub floor soft enough to put your foot through and termite damage.
I rebuilt on the existing foundation framing with 2x4 pressure treated lumber for the bottom plate and also studs to resist future water and termite damage. I cantilevered the roof 4'-6" beyond the wall with 2x6 studs to offer shade over a small walk out deck,then insulated with r-19 batt and reflectix foil insulation for a combined r-30 http://www.reflectixinc.com/ .
Exterior is T 111 exterior grade sheathing protected with wood stain.
insulation in walls are standard r-13 batt insulation covered with 5/8" drywall. crawlspace was completely insulated using reflectix foil insulation, then double 6 ml plastic over the dirt crawlspace.
Heating is supplied via radiant heat through 1/2" oxygen barrier pex tubing sandwiched between two 5/8" sub floors. Finished flooring is Kimona Silk 12x24 tile from Daltile Philadelphia branch
http://www.daltile.com/series.cfm?series=254
Asian deep soaking tub was ordered from American Reinforced Plastics http://www.arpbathtubs.com/product.php?id=38
Polished chrome Tiamo shower was ordered from Hudson Reed UK.
http://usa.hudsonreed.com/tiamo-designer-thermostatic-shower-faucet-system-with-fixed-head-and-handset.html
Grohe Eurodisk II Roman Tub Filler handles the tub filling duties for the 65 gallon soaking tub.
Toilet room is completed with Toto toilet, and Barclay tina mini sink with Vigo single lever faucet.
http://www.wayfair.com/Vigo-Industries-Sierra-Left-Sided-Single-Handle-Bathroom-Faucet-in-Chrome-VG01027CH-VGU1028.html?refid=FR49-VGU1028
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