Insulation 101 – Insulation Basics
What is Insulation?
Insulation is an important component of any home because it’s the material used to prevent heat or sound from being transmitted from one area to another. It’s normally used to keep heat and/or sound in or out of your home, or to confine it to certain parts of your house.
It’s no secret that I use ROCKWOOL stone wool insulation, and have been for as long as I can remember. It helps achieve greater energy efficiency, saves on heating and cooling costs, and contributes to a better environment, both indoors and out.
Benefits of Insulation
Having the right insulation in your home has multiple benefits.
- It reduces energy costs by keeping your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer
- Proper insulation reduces noise levels between rooms and between the indoors and outdoors (a particularly useful component in income properties)
- Because of its fire-resistant properties, ROCKWOOL stone wool insulation provides excellent passive fire protection, limiting the ability of fire to spread, protecting escape routes, and allowing critical extra time to escape when seconds count.
- ROCKWOOL batt and board insulation products are water repellant. Even in extreme situations, if water were to penetrate a wall cavity, ROCKWOOL insulation will remain dimensionally stable and dry out. When dry, it will retain its original stated R-value and excellent thermal performance.
- Because of its inorganic composition (made from rock) ROCKWOOL insulation is also resistant to the growth of mold and mildew.
- Proper insulation will help increase the value of your home meaning that it has an exceptional return on investment.
Types of Insulation
There are several different types of insulation, and the product you use will depend on the area of the home, as well as what you want to achieve. If you’ve watched any of my shows you’ve seen me use ROCKWOOL stone wool products time and time again.
ROCKWOOL COMFORTBATT® is a semi-rigid stone wool batt insulation for exterior wood and steel stud applications in both new construction and renovations.
ROCKWOOL Comfortbatt® is used in exterior walls, attics, crawlspaces and basements and provides consistent, comfortable indoor temperatures and energy savings throughout the year.
Ideal for interior wall, floor, and ceiling insulation, ROCKWOOL Safe’n’Sound® offers superior fire protection and soundproofing for your home. This type of insulation is ideal for areas where you may want a little extra quiet. Bedrooms, home offices, and laundry rooms are just a few examples. It’s also ideal for income properties, as you can achieve some additional noise privacy between units.
Comfortboard® 80 is non-combustible, vapour permeable, water repellent, and sound-absorbent insulation. It can be used to insulate the interior side of exterior basement walls to help prevent thermal bridging. Install it against the concrete wall, build-out studs in front of the Comfortboard® and insulate studs with ROCKWOOL Comfortbatt® for a better performing basement wall system, designed for thermal performance, moisture control, and mould resistance, as well as added fire protection and sound absorption.
When it comes to insulation, I always choose these stone wool products. For more information about these and other insulation basics please visit www.rockwool.com.
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