R-Value alone fails to represent performance

That oldest of fairy tales: R-Value

It’s a fairy tale that has been so touted to the American consumer that it now has a chiseled in-stone status. But the saddest part of this fairy tale is that the R-value by itself is almost a worthless number.

It is impossible to define an insulation with a single number. To do so, we must know more. So why do we allow the R-value fairy tale to perpetuate? I don’t know. I don’t know if anybody knows. What we do know is that the R-value fairy tale obviously favors fiber insulation.

Consider the R-value of an insulation after it has been submersed in water or as a 20 mile-per-hour wind blows through it. In either of these scenarios, the R-value of fiber insulations goes to zero. But those same conditions barely affect solid insulations. That’s why I believe that R-value numbers are misleading, meaningless numbers, unless we know other characteristics.

In all probability, no one would ever buy a piece of property knowing only one of its dimensions. Suppose someone offered a property for $10,000 dollars and told you it was a seven. You would instantly wonder what that number referred to: Seven acres? Seven square feet? Seven miles square? What? You would also want to know the property’s location: In a swamp? On a mountain? In downtown Dallas? In other words, one number cannot accurately describe anything, and that includes the value of an insulation.

Code Requirements Promote R-Value

Nevertheless we have Code bodies mandating R-values of 20s or 30s or 40s. But a fiber insulation with an R-value of 25 placed in an improperly sealed house will allow wind to blow through it as if there were no insulation. Maybe the R-value is accurate when the material is lab tested. But a lab environment may not even remotely duplicate conditions in the real world.

Consequently, we must start asking for some additional dimensions to our insulation. We need to know its resistance to air penetration, to free water, and to vapor drive. We must begin demanding the R-value of an insulating material after it is subjected to real world conditions.

As it is currently used, an R-value is a number that is supposed to indicate a material’s ability to resist heat loss. It is derived by taking the k-value of a product and dividing it into the number one. The k-value is the actual measurement of heat transferred through a specific material.

Test to Determine the R-Value

The test used to produce the k-value is an ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) test. This ASTM test was designed by a committee to give us measurement values that – they hoped – would be meaningful. Unfortunately, the test was designed with a flaw or bias. Because of the way it’s designed, the test favors fiber insulations: fiberglass, rock wool and cellulose fiber. Very little input went into the test for solid insulations, such as foam glass, cork, expanded polystyrene or urethane foam.

Nor does the test account for air movement (wind) or any amount of moisture (water vapor). In other words, the test used to create the R-value is a test in non-real-world conditions. For instance, fiberglass is generally assigned an R-value of approximately 3.5. It will only achieve that R-value if tested in an absolute zero wind and zero moisture environment. Zero wind and zero moisture are not real-world. Our houses leak air, all our buildings leak air, and they often leak water. Water vapor from the atmosphere, showers, cooking, breathing, etc. constantly moves back and forth through walls and ceilings. If an attic is not properly ventilated, water vapor from inside a house will very quickly semi-saturate the insulation above the ceilings. Even small amounts of moisture will cause a dramatic drop in a fiber insulation’s R-value — as much as 50 percent or more.

Vapor Barriers, not just R-Values

We are told, with very good reason, that insulation should have a vapor barrier on the warm side. Which is the warm side of the wall of a house? Obviously, it changes from summer to winter — even from day to night. In a wintry 20 F below zero environment, the inside of an occupied house will certainly be the warm side. But during sunshiny summer months, the outside will be the warm side.

Sometimes a novice owner or builder will put vapor barriers on both sides of the insulation. Vapor barriers so placed generally prove to be disastrous. It seems the vapor barriers stop most of the moisture but not all. Consequently, small amounts of moisture move into the fiber insulation, between the two vapor barriers and become trapped. The moisture accumulates as the temperature swings back and forth. This accumulation can become a huge problem. It can eventually total buckets of water that saturate the fiberglass. We have re-insulated a number of potato storages that originally were insulated with fiberglass and a vapor barrier on both sides. Fiber insulation needs ventilation on one side; therefore, the vapor barrier should go on the side where it will do the most good.

Convection Losses in Loose-Fill Insulation

See Figure 4.1
Most people know that air penetrates the walls of a house. In fact, when the wind blows across some homes, its tenants can feel it. But what most people, including many engineers, do not realize is that there are very serious convection currents that occur within fiber insulations. These convection currents rotate vast amounts of air, but they are not fast enough to feel or even measure, with any but the most sensitive instruments. Nevertheless, the air constantly carries heat from the underside of the fiber pile to the top side, letting it escape. If we seal off the air movement, we generally seal in water vapor. That additional water often condenses and can become a moisture-source that rots the structure. The water, as a vapor or condensation, seriously decreases an insulation value — the R-value. he only way to deal with a fiber insulation is to ventilate. But ventilating means moving air that also decreases the R-value.

Figure 4.1

At very cold temperatures, when the temperature difference across the attic insulation reaches a certain critical point, convection within the insulation can reduce R-value. (J.D. Ned Nisson, “Attic Insulation Problems in Cold Climates,” Energy Design Update, March 1992, 42-43)

The filter medium for most furnace filters is fiberglass — the same spun fiberglass used as insulation. see Figure 4.2 Fiberglass is used for an air filter because it has less impedance to the air flow, and it is cheap. In other words, air flows through a furnace filter very readily. All well and good for a furnace filter – but can that same material effectively insulate a structure? Can you imagine insulating a house by stuffing furnace filters into the walls and ceiling? Tremendous air currents blow through the walls of a typical home. To demonstrate, hold a lit candle near an electrical outlet on an outside wall when the wind is blowing. That flame will flicker and may even go out. The average home with all its doors and windows closed has a combination of air leaks equal to the size of an open door. Even if we do a perfect job of installing fiber insulation in our house and bring the air infiltration close to zero from one side of the wall to the other, we still do not stop air from moving vertically through the insulation itself, in ceilings and walls.

Figure 4.2

Can you imagine insulating a house by stuffing furnace filters into the walls and ceiling? Tremendous air currents blow through the walls of a typical home.

Solid Insulations

The best known solid insulation is expanded polystyrene. Other solid insulations include cork, foam glass and polyisocyanate or polyisocyanurate board stock. The last two are variations of urethane foam. Each of these insulations is ideally suited for many uses. Foam glass has been used for years on hot and cold tanks, especially in places where vapor drive is a problem. Cork is of course a very old standby, often used in freezer applications. EPS or expanded polystyrene is seemingly used everywhere – from throwaway drinking cups and food containers to perimeter foundation insulation, masonry insulations, etc. Urethane board stock is becoming the standard for roof insulation, especially for hot mopped roofs. It is also widely used for exterior sheathing on many new houses. The R-value of the urethane board stock is of course better than any of the other solid insulations. All of these solid insulations perform far better than fiber insulations whenever there is wind or moisture involved.

Most solid insulations are installed as sheets or board stock, and most suffer from one very common problem. They generally don’t fit tight enough to prevent air infiltration. And if the wind gets behind them, it matters not how thick these board stocks are. We see this often in masonry construction where board stock is used between a brick and a block wall. Unless the board stock is actually physically glued to the block wall, air will infiltrate behind it. When this happens, the board stock becomes virtually worthless, since the air flows through the weep holes in the brick and around the insulation negating its effectiveness. Great care must be exercised in placing solid insulations. The brick ties need to be fitted at the joints and then sealed to prevent air flow behind the insulation.

Spray-in-place polyurethane is the only commonly used solid insulation that absolutely protects itself from air infiltration. When it is properly placed between two studs or against a concrete block wall or wherever, the bonding of the spray plus the expansion of the material in place creates a total seal. It’s almost impossible to overestimate this total seal. In my opinion, most of the heat loss in the walls of a home has to do with the seal, rather than the insulation.

Heat does not conduct horizontally nearly as well as it does vertically. Therefore, if a home had no insulation in its walls, but did have an absolute airtight seal, there would not necessarily be a huge difference in heat loss. But this would not be the case if ceiling insulation was missing.

Spray-in-place polyurethane can most effectively stop air infiltration. It is the only material that properly applied fills in the corners, cripples, double studs, bottom plates, top plates, etc. The R-value of a material is of no interest or consequence if air can get past it.

Case Studies

During the 1970s in Idaho’s Snake River Valley, my firm insulated the walls of many new homes with 1.25 inches of spray-in-place polyurethane foam. In 1970, the popular number for the R-value of one inch of urethane foam was 9.09 per inch. Using this value, we were putting an R of 1.25 × 9.09 = 11.36 in the walls. This was much less than the R = 16 claimed by fiberglass insulators. Today, using ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) published charts, we would only be able to claim an R-value for the 1.25 inches of 7.5 to 9. Neither of these numbers make for a very high R-value. But in reality, our insulation customers invariably thanked us for the savings in their heat bills. Many told us that their heating bills were half of what their neighbors paid. They felt that they saved the cost of the polyurethane in one or, at most, two years. Most of these customers were savvy people. They would not have paid the extra to get the urethane insulation if it had not been better. Nevertheless, what I call “Case Studies,” some people might call “anecdotal evidence.” That’s okay. Anecdotal evidence is also compelling and very real in our world.

R-Value vs. Temperature

About mid 1975, I received a call from a division manager of a major fiberglass insulation manufacturer. The caller said, “I understand that you are spraying polyurethane in the walls of homes.” I told him that was true. He was calling because we were cutting into fiberglass insulation sales in our area. He asked, “How can you do it?”

I knew what he meant. He wanted to know how I could look folks in the eye and sell them a more expensive insulation instead of cheap fiberglass. I told him the way I did it was with a spray gun. Of course, that wasn’t the answer he wanted. He wanted to know why I did not feel guilty. I told him about insulating one of two nearly identical houses built side-by-side. We insulated the walls of one with 1.25 inches of urethane. Its near-twin was insulated with full, thick fiberglass batts by a reputable installer. Not only did we use just 1.25 inches of urethane as the total wall insulation, but we had the builder leave off the insulated sheathing. At the end of the first winter, the urethane insulated home had a heating bill half of its neighbor. Again, such evidence is not terribly scientific, but it is very real. I am not sure that the manager was convinced, but it should be noted: in the following year, that same company jumped into the urethane foam supply business.

One and a quarter inch of polyurethane sprayed properly in the wall of a house will prevent more heat loss than all the fiber insulation that can be crammed in the walls — even up to an eight-inch thickness. Not only does the polyurethane provide better insulation, it provides the house with significant additional strength.

Brent was an early client of mine for whom I had insulated several potato storages. He knew what spray-in-place urethane insulation could do. When he decided to build his new, very large, very fancy new home, he asked me to insulate it. The builder pitched a fit. He didn’t need any of that spray-in-place urethane in his buildings. He made his buildings tight, and fiberglass was just as good.

Brent told the builder, “I know who is going to insulate the building. It is not as definite as to who is going to be the contractor. You can make up your mind. We are going to have the urethane insulation and you build the building, or we are going to have the urethane insulation, and I will have someone else build the building.” It didn’t take the contractor long to decide he wanted to use urethane insulation.

R-value tables are truly part of the fairy tale. They chart solid and fiber insulations side-by-side, implying that they can be compared. See Figure 4.3 The fact is, without taking installation conditions into account, comparisons are meaningless. Spray-in-place urethane foam provides its own vapor barrier, water barrier and wind barrier. None of the other insulations are as effective without special care taken at installation. Fiber insulations must be protected from wind, water and water vapor. Again, the tables need a second table to state installation conditions.

Figure 4.3

“There is a problem with loose-fill fiberglass attic insulation in cold climates. It appears that, as attic temperature drops below a certain point, air begins to circulate into and within the insulation, forming ‘convective loops’ that increase heat loss and decrease the effective R-value. At very cold temperatures (-20 F), the R-value may decrease by up to 50%. “In full-scale attic tests at Oak Ridge national Laboratory, the R-value of 6 inches of cubed loose-fill attic insulation progressively fell as the attic air temperature dropped. At -18 F, the R-value measured only R-9. The problem seems to occur with any low-density, loose-fill fibrous insulation. (J.D. Ned Nisson, “Attic Insulation Problems in Cold Climates,” Energy Design Update, March 1992, 42-43)

Consider these case studies:

See Figure 4.4
Meadow Gold, a dairy product company, was going to build a freezer in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Chet, Meadow Gold’s plant manager, was a good friend of the local Butler Building dealer, who was a good friend of mine. A Butler Building insulated with expanded polyurethane does not make an efficient freezer. The three of us knew that, so we got together and planned a freezer that would accommodate Meadow Gold’s needs, yet be built of a Butler Building and be properly insulated. This transpired during my first year of spraying polyurethane foam; I believed all the literature and knew that what we were doing was going to be just right.

Figure 4.4

With the lowest K-factor and highest R-value, urethane foam can provide more thermal resistance with less material than any other insulation.

It turned out even better. The then current R-value table showed one inch of urethane equal to 2.5 inches of expanded polystyrene. So, I suggested we spray the metal building with four inches of urethane to replace the 10 inches of expanded polystyrene normally used by Meadow Gold for freezers.

I sprayed the walls and under the slab with four inches, and I sprayed the underside of the roof with five inches of urethane – fifth inch added as a safety margin.

During this process, Chet began worrying. After all, he had stuck his neck out by going with a nontraditional insulation in a nontraditional structure. Well, the building progressed on schedule, but the equipment to cool it did not arrive on time. By summer, only one of two refrigeration compressors had arrived. But based on using 10 inches of expanded polystyrene and per Meadow Gold’s engineers, two compressors were needed for efficient freezing.

Faced with this predicament, Chet considered an alternative: one of the older freezers that had been used as a cooler could be turned back into a freezer. Then, with just one compressor, the new building could be made into a cooler. It was not a satisfactory arrangement, but it maybe could work.

Chet also insisted that as soon as he turned on the freezer equipment he would know if the building would work. When I pressed him, he said that normally it takes five days to bring a freezer down to -10 F — the temperature needed for ice cream. So, Chet turned on the new freezer with its one compressor. By the second morning, the temperature dropped to -18 F! Chet and Meadow Gold had their freezer. It ran the entire summer using only the single compressor.

A few weeks after the freezer’s start-up, a Meadow Gold engineer from Chicago visited me. He wanted to know exactly what we had done to insulate the freezer. One compressor should not have been able to hold the temperature as it did. I explained exactly what we had done. He seemed satisfied and left.

But several more weeks went by and he showed up again – this time with his boss. We went to the plant; using an ice pick, we verified the foam’s thickness. It was, indeed, four inches in the walls and five inches in the ceiling. But again, both engineers reiterated that the building should not be operating as it was. What they were telling me was that even though I had used one inch of urethane to replace 2.5 inches of expanded polystyrene, the building was still requiring only 50 percent of normal compressor power for cooling. As you can imagine, the experience made me a lot bolder, and I used the information to sell more freezer insulation jobs.

A 60,000 square foot freezer in Clearfield, Utah became one of our largest freezer insulation projects. I persuaded Bob, my friend and the general contractor building this new, all-concrete freezer, into letting us insulate it with spray-in-place polyurethane foam. This building was the twelfth in a chain of freezers. Bob took it upon himself to switch from the usual ten inches of expanded polystyrene to four inches of urethane with a fifth inch on the roof. The building was built with tilt-up concrete insulated on the interior side of the concrete with spray-in-place urethane. We then sprayed on a three-fourths of an inch thick layer of plaster as a thermal (fire) barrier. Over the prestressed concrete roof panels, we put five inches of spray-in-place urethane and then, following the urethane manufacturer’s specifications, covered it with hot tar and rock.

On my last day on this job, the owner showed up. He had expected to see ten inches of expanded polystyrene – not four inches of urethane. I told him he would like the four inches of urethane and that, based on my experience, urethane was a far better insulator than expanded polystyrene. He told me he felt sick – there was no way that could be true. But it was too late for him to do anything about it. If he could have, he would have changed the contract instantly, but he was stuck and he felt stuck.

He owned twelve other similar-size freezers, all insulated with expanded polystyrene. They normally operated with three large compressor assemblies. During the summer, two compressors kept the building cold, while the third stood by in case one of the first two had a problem.

About a year later, I received a phone call from one of the managers. He asked me if I had time to insulate another 60,000-square-foot freezer in Clearfield, Utah. I assured him we had the time, the inclination, and the excitement to do it, but I thought the owner wanted nothing to do with urethane foam insulation. The manager explained that not only had the Clearfield freezer operated better than any other freezer in their line, it had operated for less than half the cost of the others. So, they were adding another 60,000 square feet without adding more compressors. The compressor power available to them because of the urethane insulation’s efficiency allowed them to do that. The building had run very nicely through the hot part of the summer with just one compressor. Now they would be able to run two buildings off two compressors and still have a spare.

Again, this is anecdotal evidence, but let me assure you that you will get the same results if you do as we did. I have insulated many buildings and I know what results you can expect. You cannot get a R-value from a fiber insulation and compare it to the R-value of a foam insulation. Nor can you use the R-value of a foam insulation if it is in sheet form and compare it to the R-value of spray-in-place foam insulation. Spray-in-place polyurethane is an absolute minimum of three to ten times as effective as any other insulation available today.

“Urethane Conserves Energy”

“Excellent thermal resistance is the primary performance benefit of urethane foam insulation, but it is not the only one. Urethane also has these advantages as a construction material: Its closed cell structure makes urethane most effective initially and in the long run. When protected by skins or other covering, urethane will not absorb water. Consequently the x-factor (thermal conductivity) is virtually constant. Sprayed-on foam has the advantage of no seams or joints. Urethane’s thermal resistance means that only one thickness of material is needed for most jobs. It has a low moisture permeability (1-3 perms).

“Where circumstances demand thinner walls or roofs, urethane – with its superior insulating capability – makes it possible to reduce the thickness of the insulation component with no loss of thermal resistance. Or the thermal resistance of an assembly can be increased without enlarging the size of the member. Urethane helps to offset the design restrictions imposed by the fact that most building materials are constant in thickness and weight.” (Mobay Chemical Corp. “Urethane Foam as an Energy Conserver,” How to Conserve Energy: in commercial, institutional and industrial construction, Pittsburgh, PA, 1975, 3)

During the late 1970s, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) went after urethane foam suppliers for misleading advertising, especially regarding fire claims. A consent decree followed. It destroyed a tremendous amount of confidence in the use of urethane. Up to that point, Commonwealth Edison gave Gold Medallion approval to homes insulated with only one quarter inch (0.25″) of spray-in-place urethane in the side walls of masonry constructed homes. Much work was done in the early 1970s using a 1.25 inches urethane as a replacement for wall insulation in a home. Not only did it replace the wall insulation, it also replaced the exterior sheathing. Buildings are stronger and better insulated when sprayed with the 1.25 inches of urethane.

Insulation has two purposes: to cut heat loss and to control surface temperature.

I. Heat loss:

This next section covers aspects of insulation that most people are unfamiliar with or don’t know very well. There is a substantial difference between insulation for temperature control and insulation for heat loss control. For instance, the graph shows the heat loss control of spray-in-place urethane foam insulation. Any insulation will have a similar graph but with thicker amounts of insulation. This graph points out that more insulation is not necessarily cost effective. From a heat loss perspective, there is a point at which more insulation is pointless.

The graph shows that 70% of heat loss from conductance is stopped by a one-inch thickness of spray-in-place urethane foam. See Figure 4.5 Note: Nearly 100% of the heat loss from air infiltration is stopped with the first one-fourth of an inch of urethane foam. The second inch of spray-in-place urethane stops about 90% of heat loss, and the third inch stops about 95% and so forth.

Figure 4.5

This graph illustrates a building’s reduction in heat loss when it is insulated with various thicknesses of spray-in-place urethane foam. Note: Above 3 inches, the insulation benefit tops off quickly. The graph is not exact, but it shows, in general, what happens as additional insulation is added to the surface temperature. In other words, by super-insulating, the surface temperature of the inside of the exterior walls comes very close to the room temperature. This prevents condensation, that, in turn, prevents mold growth.

Thermal Diffusivity and Heat Sinks

It should be noted here that when urethane is used on the exterior of a heat sink, such as concrete, the actual effective R-value is approximately doubled. Consequently, for a Monolithic Dome, we are able to calculate effective R-values in excess of 60. A heat sink is any substance capable of storing large amounts of heat. Most commonly, we think of concrete, brick, water, adobe and earth as heat sink materials used in building. The property of a heat sink to act as an insulation is called thermal diffusivity.

Here is a simple explanation for the way it works: As the temperature of the atmosphere cycles from cold to hot to cold to hot, the heat sink absorbs or gives up heat. But because the heat sink can absorb so much heat, it never catches up with the full range of the cycle. Therefore the temperature of the heat sink tends to average. Large heat sinks will average over many days, weeks or even months.

An adobe hacienda with its two-to-six-foot thick walls exemplifies this process. By the time the adobe walls begin to absorb the daytime heat, it is night time, and the same heat then escapes into the cooler night. Therefore the temperature averages. Because of the adobe’s large mass, the temperature averages over periods of months. So, adobe acts as an insulation even though adobe has a minimal R-value.

According to the graph, urethane thicknesses beyond four or five inches are practically immaterial. We use three inches for most of our construction. Two inches will do a very superior job. We have insulated many metal buildings with one inch of urethane and got a dramatic drop in heat loss. Obviously the first quarter inch takes care of wind blowing through cracks. (It usually takes an inch to be sure the cracks are all filled.) The balance of the inch adds the thermal protection.

II. Surface Temperature Control

Surface temperature control is the second reason for insulation. In many cases, it is the most important reason. I noticed this phenomena first while insulating potato storages.

We had various customers ask us to insulate buildings with anywhere from two to five inches of urethane. But the building insulated with two inches would hold the temperature of the potatoes properly and just as well as the building insulated with five inches. The difference came in the condensation. Potato storages are kept at very high humidity levels. So, buildings with two inches of urethane would have far more condensation than those with five inches.

An engineer from the Upjohn company explained this to me. He stated that thicker insulation is absolutely necessary to maintain higher interior surface temperatures. One and a half inches of urethane on the walls and ceiling of a potato storage would control the heat loss from the building, but it took a minimum of three inches of urethane to control the interior surface temperature. Four inches was even better. With five inches the difference is practically negligible. The only place where we have felt the need for five inches of urethane was in insulating the roof or ceiling of a subzero freezer.

Underground housing: surface temperature control vs. heat loss control

Most underground housing gets in trouble from mold and mildew growth. The cause is not enough insulation to control interior surface temperatures. Rarely is there a problem with total heat loss. Water vapor condenses on the surface, allowing mold to grow. Mold makes people sick. The only solution is using lots of insulation for temperature control and ignoring total heat loss since it is not a factor.

Experience has taught me that R-value tables can be used as indicators. But they need modifications to make them equal to real world conditions. Allowances must be made. They must show equivalents. These equivalents should indicate that one inch of spray-in-place urethane equals four inches of fiberglass in normal installations. Footnotes to the table should define degradation of insulations in real world conditions. Only then will the R-value Fairy Tale become a real world success story.

Tags : benifits, Cost, efficiency, heat loss, savings, spray foam insulation, thermal insulation
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Our Goal, to provide you with the information you need about Insulation.

EcoLogic Spray Foam Canada exists to serve our customers.  Far from a cliche, this is our core value. From your first visit to our website (www.ecologicfoam.com), where we hope to address what questions and concerns you may have, to the first call you place to us, where you will find us informative and straight in our communication, we strive to give you what you want, without drama.  You’ll find we are often able to quote you over the phone, and that we are able to schedule your foam install with very little delay.

Competitively priced Insulation

We keep our prices competitive so that we can provide value while maintaining a high standard in all we do.  We are neighbors in Canada and the surrounding communities in which we work and we treat our clients as though they lived next door.  Our goal is not to sell you insulation, our goal is to educate, answer, respond to and provide you with the information you need to make informed decisions.  We know that by providing you with the information you need to understand the role of insulation in your home, how it interacts with the other building materials you use, and the role it plays in preventing moisture damage in your new home, you will be able to make the right choice for your family.

Our Insulation material leads the industry

EcoLogic Spray Foam is founded on the belief that we can live in harmony with our environment and that we can live in balance with the resources available to us.  Not only will using our foam insulation reduce the amount of fossil fuels needed to heat your home by half, it will lower your heating bills by just as much.  That is harmonious living, but we have gone beyond that and utilize recycled and renewable materials in our foam to further reduce the load that we place on our limited resources.  With soya bean oil and recycled plastic bottles making up a higher percentage of our total content than any similar product, we can boast that EcoLogic Spray Foam is as green as it gets.  Like all spray foams, we manufacture your foam at your site – this means that our product is transported to your Canadian home in its original state and this results in huge carbon savings by limiting the amount of energy that goes into transporting say – fully expanded fiberglass batts, which are bulky.

Your Local Insulation Contractor.

Give us a call today, we’re local and we’re ready to help.  We strive to earn the trust of all we work with and we believe that you will find we work hard at meeting your needs.  For a free insulation estimate, call us at 1 888-880-8420.

Tags : benifits, Cost, energy efficient, Environment, thermal insulation
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Spray foam is Cost effective

Spray foam is costly, but is it cost effective?In building or renovating a home there are countless choices in materials and design ranging from low cost to high end.  A question I hear often is why would anyone spend on high end insulation when it is hidden in your walls and never to be seen again?

Why Spray foam is evaluated as cost effective?

Few other building materials are evaluated as to how cost effective they are.  They are chosen on their tactile, visual or physical properties.  But spray foam is different.  In order to justify paying more for something that goes into your walls, it needs to provide a service and in this case, a financial return.  A decision to use spray foam is either a financial one or it is a conscientious one – to reduce our carbon footprint.  Protecting our environment is a critical concern but is the subject of another article.  In evaluating if spray foam is cost effective, we need to determine if it makes sense financially.

A cost effective alternative to traditional insulation

Spray foam has a higher R-Value than any other material on the market, it creates an unfailing air barrier and vapor barrier and it results in energy savings of 50% or more.  While spray foam may cost considerably more than fiberglass batts to install, the payback period due to lower energy consumption can be as short as 5 years.  When comparing this to Geothermal (8 – 15 year payback), Solar Voltaic (14 year payback), Spray foam stacks up as a very cost effective installation.

The benefits of  Spray Foam

This is all prior to accounting for the non- financial benefits of spray foam.  Spray Foam is not only cost effective, but results in a more comfortable home, one that is quieter, one that is not subject to moisture ingress into your walls and the mold and mildew problems that can result.  Spray Foam results in a stronger home, and can be use in areas that traditional insulation fails to perform well.   See EcoLogic  Spray Foam in action.

Is Spray Foam cost effective?  Very!

Tags : Cost, efficiency, energy efficient, investment, return, savings, thermal insulation
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The High cost of Home Ownership

This week, I have a personal story to tell as it taught me something new.  Some very good friends of ours are in the process of building a home.  This home is larger than any I ever aspire to live in, at over 7500 square feet.  Being built in South Langley, it is in the premiere development in the Fraser Valley where lots run well into 7 figures.

This home is surrounded by multi-million dollar homes and when finished will join them with a similar valuation.  The finishes are outstanding, the view incredible, little expense is spared from granite to Appliances, fixtures to finishes.  As I indicated, these are good friends and I offered to install our soya based spray foam insulation for what is essentially cost because first I wanted them to have the best and I wanted to help them where I could and second because I wanted to showcase our product in a market where it makes sense to spray foam.  7500+ square foot homes are costly to heat!

Cost of Home Ownership impacted by Insulation Choices

I was more than a little surprised when our friends turned down my offer.  Far from being hurt, I could not understand why they would not take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity to save on the size of their furnace, the air conditioner, their HRV, their on-going energy expenses!  Why they would not want to reduce the amount of dust entering their home, the noise that penetrates the walls, or enjoy the comfort that comes from a home that is insulated with spray foam.

It has taken some time, but I have come to realize that no matter rich or poor, we all tend to look at money in relation to time.  The true cost of home ownership is never accounted for.  The total cost of home ownership is never really considered.  While spray foam is considerably more expensive than fiberglass batts, these are up front costs, while this decision has an everlasting impact on the ownership costs, specifically impacting utility bills and maintenance.

Fiberglass negatively impacts the total Cost of Home Ownership

I urge you to consider the math of installing a cheap and inferior furnace filter as an insulator (fiberglass) instead of an air tight, vapor barrier and thermal insulator in spray foam insulation.  Your cost of home ownership with spray foam including up front installation and utilities meet the cost of owning a home with fiberglass in between 5 and 6 years, after which you are saving money with spray foam.  Yes, it is the cheaper solution in as little as 5 years!

Another item that I find people often overlook is how air tight their spray foamed homes are.  The mantra “seal it tight, ventilate it right” describes a sound way to build.  By spraying your home, you air seal your building envelope resulting in near zero seepage.  This means that your furnace can be downsized, as can your heat pump, geo-thermal unit, air conditioner, and air filtration system.  There are significant savings to be had here.

If the decision to use foam is made at the planning stages, there are additional savings to be made using modern framing techniques because foam increases your shearing strength by three fold.

The cost of home ownership is also impacted by maintenance.  Because foam eliminates moisture ingress, maintenance due to water damage is virtually eliminated.

Fiberglass increases the total cost of Home Ownership

In so many ways, foam is the cheap alternative to fiberglass which results in high energy bills, poor performance, oversized HRV equipment, potential moisture damage and increased maintenance costs.  How do you look at the cost of home ownership?

Tags : benifits, building envelope, Cost, heat loss, moisture, return, spray foam insulation
Posted in : Cost, building envelope | 3 Comments »

Fiberglass – that fluffy, pink, insulation.

Home insulation.  It is pink, right? It comes in big oblong shaped bags and bursts out of them as they are opened – it is precut to fit into your walls perfectly and it has the claimed R-Value printed on the outside of the bag so you know what you are getting.  Home builders have been using it for decades now – it is fibergalss and is the standard, the norm and the dominant product on the market.

Fiberglass, it comes in loosely woven batts – cut to shape, made up of millions of tiny little strands of spun… glass!  No surprise there as it is in the name, but glass – isn’t that what our windows are made of – and aren’t windows a source of heat loss because glass conducts heat energy so well?  So why do we have it in our walls to keep our homes warm?  Oh ya, it is not the glass itself but the air that it traps in between the glass fibers that acts as an insulator.  Because that air is held in place and does not move, it maintains a different temperature than the air beside it.  But…  how does a fiber hold air in place?  It can’t.  So then air is not held in place, it is simply slowed in its movement.  That must be it right?

Is fiberglass effective?

But if air is simply slowed down, how is it an effective insulator if it can move from place to place?  Does it move, or is it simply that it can – I mean it is inside a wall, after all.

Air not only moves through fiberglass, it does so readily, quickly and systematically, acting in response to the laws of physics.  If you were to draw a wall (which is an assembly of different products) in profile, you would see that the majority of space in that wall (between the studs) is occupied by our fiberglass insulation batts.  On one side of the wall is our indoor room, and on the other is the outside world.  Our wall keeps them separate if it is doing its job.  Most of us know that warm air weighs less than cool air and thus tends to rise.  In Canada, in the winter time, our homes are generally kept at a comfortable 23 degrees celcius, while the outdoor environment can be anywhere from 0 degrees celcius in coastal areas to -40 degrees on the prairies.  The effect of this is that the air (loosely held in our fiberglass batt) that rests against the outside wall is cooler than the air that rests against the indoor wall.  Because of this the air against the outer wall tends to fall through the insulation and the air against the inside wall rises.  A convective current is formed and this is an effective heat transfer mechanism which moves heat energy from the inside wall to the outside wall and into the environment.  Fiberglass is a poor insulator.

Does fiberglass perform?

Further, while there is a vapor barrier in the form of a 6 mil polyethylene sheet on the inside of the wall which theoretically prevents air from moving into the wall, there is none on the exterior of the wall.  The result of this is that wind pressure can easily penetrate into the wall assembly and move through it.  As it does so it transfers heat in the air trapped in our insulation to the outdoors.  Fiberglass needs to be protected from air movement and this cannot be done on both sides of the wall.

Is fiberglass resilient?

What about the durability of fiberglass.  Those batts we install are not very rigid.  They are actually kind of floppy and need to be placed fairly carefully in order to get them to stay before we put up the vapor barrier.  What happens to them behind our walls over the years – do they stay in place, or settle.  Even worse, what happens if they get wet somehow – do they tend to sag and lose their insulating properties or leave areas of our walls uncovered and unprotected from the cold (and water damage).  Fiberglass is not durable.

Is fiberglass safe?

We haven’t even looked at the effect of having glass fibers in our homes.  Tiny glass fibers are not friendly to people.  If you think it’s a reasonable proposition that inhaling microscopic shards of glass coated with phenol-formaldehyde and urea-formaldehyde resins can cause disease, I’d say that we do not want fiberglass in our homes.  Fiberglass is not safe.

Spray foam replaces fiberglass – it does the job fiberglass fails to.

What we need is a product that is effective, durable, safe, and not suceptable to wind pressure, or moisture ingress.  While there are other insulating products on the market such as mineral wool, cellulose, even recycled blue jeans, Spray Foam Insulation stands alone in addressing each of these issues for it alone is not made of fibers, and is impervious to air and moisture flow.

Fiberglass days have passed.

Tags : air tight, benifits, building envelope, Cost, renovating, thermal insulation, Video
Posted in : Environment, Video, building envelope | 5 Comments »

EcoLogic Spray Foam now offers an innovative solution to homeowners who have shied away from using foam due to the cost of application.

As shown in this video, we can install R-14 Roxol Batts to your homes walls and then spray onto them as a substrate. The result is a high R value wall system with the advantages of foam including its air barrier and vapor barrier properties as well as its high thermal resistance, at a lower cost.

While not as efficient as a complete foamed wall, this offers an alternative to homeowners who are on a tight budget that has until now precluded the use of foam in their walls.

Call us to see if this application is right for you 1-888-880-8420.

Tags : air tight, benifits, Cost, efficiency, spray foam insulation, Video
Posted in : Cost, R-value, Video | 3 Comments »

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At EcoLogic, we’re experts are in Creating Comfortable Homes.

Let’s Talk

If you’re like most folks, by the time you’re ready for your first house you’ve already become a home comfort expert. Because we’ve all lived in houses growing up, with comfortable rooms that people gathered in and uncomfortable rooms that folks just passed through.

And all of us have visited and stayed at relatives and friends. We know a cold, drafty, clammy room when we’re in one! So we’re all home comfort experts, but not many of us know exactly how to build a house that will provide a warm, comfortable environment for our families and loved ones.

At Ecologic, our spray foam insulation technology replaces conventional insulation materials to provide you with more comfort at reduced energy levels. This advanced building technology works by addressing the three major causes of home discomfort: heat loss, air leakage and moisture. Ecologic’s foam technology attacks these three comfort challenges in multiple ways.

First, it is a superior insulation product. With an R-6 rating per inch of foam, it is a superior insulator to conventional fiberglass batts.

Secondly, because it is applied by spray, it gets into every nook and cranny between the inside and outside walls of your home. By doing so, it prevents the air leakage that conventional insulation allows, since cold air will travel around the edges of conventional insulation the way cold air will blow through the edges of an ill-fitting window.

Lastly, Ecologic’s spray foam is an approved vapor barrier, blocking not only moisture, but also pollutants, dust, odors and allergens. It provides the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you are creating a healthy interior environment for your family.

What about affordability?

Ecologic’s spray foam insulation is a premium building product, like granite countertops or custom windows. It will add to the cost of building your home. For a typical mortgage on a new house, it will add perhaps $20 to $30 a month to your monthly mortgage payment. But it is still a money-saving bargain. How can that be? Because typically you can expect to use between 40% to 50% less heating energy by applying Ecologic’s spray foam insulation when your home is built.

The energy cost savings almost always exceed (and often far exceed) the increased mortgage cost. As for retrofitting an older house, the financial formula is not the same, but the payback will likely be around 4 to 5 years, after which you will enjoy a net cost saving every month. If the future were to bring unreasonable increases in the cost in energy, your foam insulation would serve to hedge you from those distressing increases.

Why the “Eco” in Ecologic?

At Ecologic, we’re proud that our technology is environmentally responsible. The foam is made from recycled polyurethane (think ‘chopped-up used milk bottles’) mixed with soya oil, a bio-oil free of petroleum. We spray it on using a ‘zero ozone depletion’ propellant that is safe for the atmosphere.

Tags : benifits, budget, Cost, energy efficient, new product, Questions, R-value, savings, thermal insulation
Posted in : Common Questions, R-value | 2 Comments »

Energy Efficiency is the

key to lower total costs,

and spray foam is the

answer.

As you go through the process of building your home, adding an addition, or renovating some part of it, have you considered energy efficiency?

You likely have worked out a budget for each aspect of the home, from counters to cabinets, wall finish to floor covering.  Some of these items come with big tickets, but did you know that the most expensive component in your home is the insulation you choose as this directly impacts your efficiency?

Reduce your total cost of ownership by 41% through improved efficiency with spray foam insulation

Paul Huddy of Tucson based Solar Institute says the initial costs; purchase price plus financing costs over 30 years, are only one-third of the total home ownership cost.  The sticker price is a mere sliver at 11% of ownership expense.  Operating costs (efficiency) consume another third (including utilities) and the last third, is taken up with home maintenance and repair. Few people look at the cost of ownership in this way and almost no one considers that a sticker price of $160,000 equals 30-year ownership costs of $1,440,000! The good news is that this does not have to be the bottom line.  If a prospective home owner was to spend $200,000 to buy a more energy-efficient house, operating and maintenance costs can come down by as much as 75%!  The impact this has on total cost of ownership is unbelievable – it can bring the total 30-year cost down to $840,000 – a savings of $600,000.”

While there are many systems or upgrades that you can add to improve efficiency, from high efficiency HVAC equipment, low flow faucets, and Low E windows, nothing has a greater impact on a homes energy efficiency, operating expenses and maintenance costs than Spray Foam Insulation.

Spray foam is built for efficiency

By creating an air barrier, vapor barrier, and the highest R value insulator in a single application, spray foam not only saves you money by reducing your energy consumption and improving efficiency, but eliminates moisture problems, and increases the longevity of your home.  EcoLogic Spray Foam has taken that to the next level by offering a foam product that is made with recycled plastic bottles and Soya Bean oil.  It is a renewable, high efficiency, healthier alternative to competing materials.

Take a look at the benefits of EcoLogic Spray Foam Insulation:

■  Thermal Resistance:

R-Value of 7 per inch, twice the efficiency of competing products.

■  Air Barrier:

forms a monolithic, continuous air tight barrier, stops convection.

■  Vapor Barrier:

recognized Vapor Barrier by The Canadian National Building Code.

■  Structural Rigidity and Integrity:

adds to the structural rigidity of the wall increasing racking and sheering strength by 300%.

■  Improved Indoor air quality:

creates an airtight structure preventing dust, moisture and mold from entry. Does not contain formaldehyde, bleach, or other volatile organic compounds. Recommended by Pulmonologists and allergists for those who suffer from Asthma and Allergies to improve their living environments.

■  Improved Noise Attenuation:

unmatched ability to absorb airborne noise. It forms the foundational component of a noise isolating wall system.**

■  Environmentally friendly:

Use up to 80% less energy.

■  Builder friendly:

it is installed in the same sequence as traditional insulation, and requires no alteration to your building plans.

■  Cost efficient:

It is not only a sound financial decision, it is the only one:

Reduce the size of your HVAC equipment by 40%.

Increase the value of your home by 3 or 4 times your investment. The Home Appraisers Journal,

“A homes value increases $20 for every $1 of annual energy savings.”

Improve your efficiency, Call us today for your free estimate:  1 888-880-8420

Tags : benifits, budget, Cost, efficiency, investment, return
Posted in : Cost | 54 Comments »