Insulation foremost to efficient building

Today, common Insulation creates moisture problems

We must adopt modern, efficient insulation materials.  Insulation material in Canada needs to be updated to effectively protect our homes and reduce our energy dependency.  Canada’s often-humid climate is characterized by high humidity throughout the year in places. The effect of this climate on buildings and residential housing in particular is significant.  Moisture drive is the main issue though the seasonal temperature range exceeds 40 degrees Celsius (80 degrees in places) and contributes to structural damage and energy consumption over the course of the year.

Canadian homes are almost all insulated with fiberglass insulation though recently other fibrous materials such as cellulose and mineral wool have made inroads to the market.  Insulation in Canada must provide protection from moisture drive as well as thermal protection because of our climate.  In Canada, insulation needs to perform as an air barrier and a vapor barrier.  While traditional walls are built with air barrier and vapor barrier layers to protect the fibrous insulation, these have resulted in costly damage on an enormous scale in Canada’s climate.  Either because of poor installation, failure to seal with caulking (in older homes), post installation penetrations placed in the wall by homeowners or failure of the sealants over time, this technique fails to stand up to the environment.

Modern insulation is more costly to install, but save far more money in time.

Insulation in Canada is cheap and readily available and most homeowners give it little thought because it is so widely accepted that insulation comes in plastic bags and is pink in color.  This ready acceptance needs to be challenged for in Canada, pink insulation is responsible for water damage from water ingress, vapor drive from the interior side of the wall and the resultant mold and mildew issues that this soon to be trapped water creates.

Spray Foam Insulation results in energy efficiency, and healthy indoor air quality.

Homeowners need spray foam insulation in Canada and need to familiarize themselves with its cost, benefits and limitations for no other product can withstand the high humidity of our climate.  Spray foam insulation in Canada provides an air barrier/vapor barrier and thermal insulation in a single application.  Spray Foam insulation is made of billions of tiny plastic wrapped bubbles which are not subject to air movement or moisture drive, making it the very best insulation material for Canada cold climate on the market.  While more expensive to install, spray foam insulation results in lower utility bills, less structural damage over the life of the building, longer building life and a far lower overall ownership costs than fibrous products.  Be sure to ask how EcoLogicfoam insulation can meet your needs.

Tags : air quality, air tight, benifits, building envelope, moisture, R-value, renovating, spray foam insulation, thermal insulation
Posted in : Common Questions, Environment, R-value, building envelope | 6 Comments »

Is your home sealed too tight?

Here’s a conundrum:  Modern Canadian homes are too tight?  But efficient homes have to be tight by definition.  Following is a brief look at the issue, the problem, and an effective solution.

Traditionally, homes were made to breathe, not sealed up air tight.

Traditional Homes in Canada stood the test of time. They were not terribly well insulated, not very efficient, not immune to water ingress and yet they were fairly healthy to live in, they withstood the elements and they lasted a long time.  Modern Canadian Homes on the other hand, are very efficient, are well insulated, include products to manage water ingress and eliminate air movement through walls and as a result are much tighter.  As building techniques have changed though, occupants and architects have found that modern buildings in Canada do not always create healthy living environments, are often subject to water damage and tend to incur higher maintenance costs and have shorter life expectancies.  What has happened and what can be done?

At issue is moisture.  In Canada, moisture is responsible for most structural damage to wood frame buildings.  It is primarily responsible for reduced indoor air quality, it is required for the growth and spread of mold and its damaging effects to both buildings and occupants and it results in shorter building life spans and higher building maintenance costs.

Energy Efficiency requires air tight buildings

The problem is that whereas older buildings were designed and built fairly porous, modern buildings are built tight to seal in heat energy.  The result is that older Canadian buildings naturally got wet and then dried while modern buildings still get wet in spite of 6 mil polyethylene vapor barriers, but they do not dry!  This trapped moisture is the source of rot, and mildew, and is the cause of most structural damage, mold growth, poor indoor air quality and high maintenance costs.

A typical modern wall assembly

To look closer at how a modern Canadian home is built we need to look at how its wall assembly is created.  This typically includes 2×6 wood framing members with fibrous insulation batts fitted in the cavity between them.  On the indoor side of the framing is a 6 mil polyethylene vapor barrier, drywall and paint.  On the outside of the wall we generally find OSB sheathing, a house wrap and vinyl siding.  The purpose of the vapor barrier, and the house wrap layers is to protect the porous insulation in between them from air movement for air carries with it moisture.

The entire assembly is designed to assist the fibrous insulating layer in its job and to protect it from getting and staying wet.  In doing so, any moisture that does get past them through penetrations or inadequate sealing at transitions becomes trapped.  What is required is to replace the insulating layer itself with a material that prevents the flow of air and moisture through it.

The answer: An Air tight seal that does not permit moisture to accumulate.

If the insulating layer itself is impenetrable to moisture than there would be no space for moisture to accumulate and all of the issues with modern Canadian homes would be addressed in a single application.  There would be no water damage, mold growth, poor indoor air quality, higher maintenance costs or reduced building life expectancy and we would have well insulated, highly efficient buildings to boot!

The only product that possesses the properties and capability to achieve the required moisture barrier in Canada is medium density (2 Lb) spray foam insulation.  Sprayed in place it is perfectly fitted to completely fill even the tiniest gaps and cracks in the wall assembly.  Spray foam insulation is a recognized air barrier and vapor barrier by the Canadian Construction Materials Center.  Spray foam insulation is one of the most rigorously tested materials that goes into homes.  It does not off gas after installation, it is inert, it will not settle or sag, it is rigid and increases the racking and shearing strength to a home by 300%, it has an R value of twice fiberglass in a given depth or thickness of material and while more costly to install it reduces the total cost of ownership by reducing energy expenses, maintenance costs and eliminating water damage.  The soft cost of improved indoor air quality and occupant comfort alone are enough to justify the additional cost.  Spray foam is becoming far more widely accepted in Canada by homeowners who increasingly understand the importance of moisture control in the health of their homes.

The answer is to seal it tight and ventilate it right.

Tags : air quality, air tight, building envelope, moisture
Posted in : Environment, building envelope | 5 Comments »

Apply spray foam here

There has been a long standing debate about home construction and how to build good, sound, safe, healthy homes.  Over the last half century, homes have become increasingly air tight as mandated by changes to building codes.  This has caused a number of issues in building envelope performance and has stoked the ongoing debate.

Long standing, experienced home builders advocate a home that naturally breathes as being healthier.  Allowing a home to naturally breathe allows any moisture that accumulates inside the walls or attic space to naturally exit as it evaporates over time back into the air column around it and is then carried out through soffets, transitions or simply through a semi permeable wall assembly.

With increasing energy costs and consumer awareness of energy efficiency, homeowners are calling for more efficient homes and builders and code officials have responded with tighter envelopes.  In an increasingly energy conscious world, it makes no sense to simply allow a building to leak air naturally when we have to spend an ever increasing amount of money to heat and cool our homes.  Since we have the technology to make homes more efficient, we should.  Any concerns about moisture accumulation can be handled by mechanical equipment and maintaining humidity in an acceptable range.

With the increasing tightness of code required buildings, there have been situations where trapped moisture in wall cavities, unable to exit to the exterior of the wall has collected and resulted in rot, mildew, mold, or structural damage and in extreme cases caused health related concerns and significant financial hardship.

The core of the issue though is moisture accumulation.  Moisture does cause damage and needs to be addressed.  99% of modern newly built homes continue to use a fibrous material to thermally insulate them.  This is the core of the problem.  Because fiberglass, Roxol, cellulose or any other fiber based product is permeable to moisture laden air, and because a vapor barrier is only placed on one side of the wall or the other (In Canada, this is on the warm, indoor side of the wall), moisture does enter wall cavities, where it does come into contact with condensing surfaces and can accumulate to cause damage in tightly sealed homes.

While tight homes are energy efficient, they risk becoming health risks, while freely breathing homes have healthy indoor air quality because of the natural air exchanges that take place each day, they are costly to heat and uncomfortable to live in.  What is the answer?

Fibrous insulation IS at the core of the problem and the reason moisture enters wall cavities.  What if the insulation used in homes was impermeable to air & moisture – it would not matter where the vapor pressure was coming from, moisture could not enter the wall cavity.  What if the insulation was also able to perfectly seal the wall cavity so that no air could move around it either?  Such a wall assembly would by design be vastly more resilient to moisture damage and its resultant health concerns.

Spray foam insulation is the solution.  Spray foam insulation has a higher R Value than any other insulation product on the market.  Spray foam insulation is a recognized air barrier and vapor barrier, meaning it is impervious to moisture and prevents the damage water can cause.  Spray foam insulation is custom fit to the walls of your home because as it expands it wraps itself around every element in your walls and seals them entirely.  Unlike fibrous products which will settle or sag over time, spray foam will never move, never deform – it is elastic enough to allow for settling of new homes and moves with the framing members.

With spray foam insulation, the modern mantra “Build it tight, ventilate it right.” results in not only energy efficient homes, but healthy indoor living environments and durable buildings by preventing moisture and its resultant damage from entry.

Tags : air quality, building envelope, Environment, moisture, spray foam insulation
Posted in : building envelope | 15 Comments »