A Look At Various Insulation Terms
Understanding The Insulation Terms
When it comes to attic insulation, many homeowners tend to put it on the back burner. When homeowners start to notice cold drafts, cold rooms, and constantly having to turn up the thermostat, they start to worry their insulation is not where it is needed to be. You may turn to Google for help on how to properly insulate your home and jargon of various terms will pop up. Luckily, we have compiled a list of what each term means and how it might affect your Iowa home. Keep reading below.
Insulation Terms To Know
Air Sealing: A source that eliminates leaks and makes the home more comfortable and efficient.
Cellulose Insulation: A type of insulation that is blown into unfinished attic floors. It provides a much denser and more effective layer than fiberglass, is eco-friendly, fire-resistant, and is resistant to mold and insects.
Spray Foam Insulation: A dense foam that expands as it is applied. This insulation outperforms all other insulation resistance to mold and moisture damage, durability, air sealing, and versatility.
R-Value: This is a way to measure and understand the effective insulation value of a specific material. Iowa recommends having an R-Value of 60.
Stack Effect: A term to describe heat loss in the home. Warm air rises and leaks out at the upper levels of the home and sucks new unconditioned air at lower levels.
Blower Door Test: This is a test where a calibrated fan is set up in an exterior doorway with a computer attached to it. This helps determine energy issues within the home.
Heat Map Evaluation: A test to detect the areas of the home that are under-insulated.
Ice Dam: An ice dam is the result of snow that has repeatedly melted and refrozen. Warm air inside the attic will transfer to the roof and it melts the snow causing the melting snow to run down the roof freezing on the edges of the roof.
Attic Frost: Attic Frost is the result of conditioned air leaking out of your home in the winter. It can lead to mold, wet insulation, and water stains on the ceiling.
Knee Wall: A Knee Wall is created when a finished room is built within a sloped roof. A short wall which is a Knee Wall forms a triangular space that can be accessed with a short door or access panel in the attic.
Rim Joist: The Rim Joist is the edge of the wood floor framing system that sits on top of the home’s foundation wall.
Crawl Space: An unoccupied, unfinished, narrow space within a building, between the ground and the floor. The crawl space is named because there is typically only enough room to crawl rather than stand.
Attic Baffle: Attic Baffles provide a channel for air to flow between your home’s soffits and attic space.
Ridge Vents: An air vent that runs along the ridge of a roof. This allows hot, moist air to escape from the attic further reducing cooling costs.
