Wednesday, 4 April 2012

Best Choices For Blown Attic Insulation

By Pavel Romanzi


There are many choices you have when it comes to blown attic insulation. What matters more, however, is which one is the best. There isn't any doubt that many homes will benefit from attic insulation. There are legal minimum levels mandated by law and regulation, but from a practical point of view, these will not suffice. With the growing expense for heating and cooling homes and home owners becoming conscious about preserving the environment, the minimum standard of blown attic insulation that's required is more likely to be considered grossly insufficient by both contractors and owners alike.

So considering these facts, what type is the best attic insulation and ideal for your home?

Best Blown Attic Insulation - When you look at older homes, you'll find many of them with fiberglass batt insulation in the attic. These are simple solutions involving placement of batts between roof joists. Batt insulation, while simple, is also not very efficient as it is harder to slot between the rafters and joists closely and adapt to things like vents and tubing.

Blown attic insulation is applied in a different way. It is blown into the attic using specialized blowers. The reason why blown attic insulation is so popular is not because it has higher R value but because it can be so conveniently installed. While being used in attic insulation blown material isn't a big problem even if the fluff sprays all around the space.

Loose fill insulation is another name for blown fiberglass insulation. R-value for these are lower at around 3 or 4 per inch. The blocks are folded into sheets of plastics. These blocks are cut and then stuffed into a shredder. After shredding the insulation is then blown into the attic using a hose.

Cellulose as an insulating material for blown attic insulation comes from recycled newspapers. The material is modified so that it is resistant to mold and less flammable. As a green solution that appeals to environment conscious home owners, cellulose spray insulation is making a resurgence and used both for redo insulation as well as in new buildings. Wet insulation with cellulose dries up holding the material in place. R values are comparable to fiberglass, even slightly better.

Modifications For Blown Attic Insulation - No matter how good or ideal a form of blown attic insulation may be for your building, there are some changes and modifications that will be needed to the attic before it can be sealed. The trouble with rushing ahead to insulate is that you may be restricting access to the attic permanently, or creating a situation where whenever you try and enter the attic, loose insulating material falls into the living area, causing contamination and inconvenience while lowering the insulating efficiency in the process.




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