What are the Benefits of Expanding Foam Insulation?
Posted by Edward Nave | Filed under Home & Family
There are four insulation types’ to consider when choosing insulation they are; batt and blanket, rigid board, loose fill and Expanding foam insulation. I will talk about each individually so you will have a better understanding when choosing insulation.
The first we will consider when choosing insulation is loose fill. This insulation is made from either cellulose or fiberglass. It makes a blanket effect when it is blown into the walls. Contractors use it attics and walls in unfinished buildings. This type is treated for fire resistance and moisture.
The second cheapest to consider when choosing insulation is the rigid foam board. It’s made from polystyrene, polyurethane or fiberglass. It’s used in basement walls, high ceilings, flat roofs and perimeters. It’s not flame resistant. So it required covering with fire proof paneling or dry wall. Since bugs nest in this insulation. It’s suggested to use an insecticide treated material for basements.
The third is loose fill insulation. Like expanding foam insulation. This insulation is blown into unfinished walls attic and ceilings to make a blanket effect. It is made from cellulose or fiberglass. Loose fill is treated for moisture and fire resistance.
The last is Expanding foam insulation. When choosing insulation I would have to say this is my favorite. Like loose fill it too is blown into walls. As it dries it expands to fit every crack. Once dried excess is cut away and a thermal barrier is applied.
Expanding foam insulation has many benefits. It reduces wind washing, sound and condensation. It improves air leakage, air quality and lowers heating and cooling bills. It protects against floods and doesn’t deteriorate in time. It can be used in extreme temperatures effectively. You don’t need to winterize further. It can be applied over the old insulation material.
Expanding foam insulation has many uses from finished walls, ceilings, floors to boat docks to airplanes. Contractors especially like this insulation in tight enclosed places like electrical boxes, outlets, and window seals.
When choosing insulation you have to consider the good and bad qualities of each type of insulation. Although batt and blanket is the cheapest initially, proper insulation is required. Rigid foam boards is also inexpensive but unless treated can obtain moisture and harbor bugs. Both require further weatherization. Expanding foam insulation and loose fill both effectively cover the area without bugs, or retaining moisture and without further weatherization.
AtticInsulationGuide.com has the answers to all the questions that you were afraid to ask about attic insulation! To make sure that you won’t settle for anything less than the full story on foam insulation, check out the site right away !
Tags: Attic Conversion, Attic Improvement, Attic Insulation, Attic Ventilation, Foam Insulation, heating, Home & Family, Home Improvement, House Insulation, Insulate The Attic, Insulation, Roof Insulation, Roof Padding, save energy, Spray Insulation
An Easy Way To Move Over To LED Lighting
Posted by Siobhan Persson | Filed under Home & Family
Few people can have escaped noticing that conventional incandescent lighting is rapidly being phased out and that the preferred (over Compact Fluorescent Lamps) alternative is LED, which is widely regarded as the way forward to a environmentally friendly, low cost lighting future. The question though is: where to start?
Now you might think that it would just be a matter of swapping every existing incandescent light bulb for an LED equivalent, however I really would suggest that you don’t go down that route. For a start the up-front cost would be quite steep, but perhaps more importantly it would jeopardize the likelihood of a successful outcome.
Getting to grips with LED lighting doesn’t happen overnight - this is a completely different technology to incandescent lighting and requires a bit of getting used to before you can get it just right for your own needs. But stick with it and the end result is superior quality lighting that also happens to save massively on electricity costs.
Sound advice then is to begin with an area that either uses a lot of lighting or has the lighting switched on a lot (or simply somewhere you would like to refurbish anyway). In this way, your chances of seeing a noticeable difference with respect to both light quality and running costs are greatly increased.
Getting off to a successful start this way is important since it provides the encouragement to proceed with further steps towards finally replacing all your incandescent lighting with LED. The room that most people nominate to start with is, unsurprisingly, the kitchen. This usually has many lights that also get used a lot and a kitchen lighting makeover invariably seems to appeal.
The typical modern kitchen often uses quite a number of halogen lamps, either mounted on tracks or recessed into the ceiling. These waste a phenomenal amount of electricity as heat and are simplicity itself to replace with retrofit LED equivalents. Just pull the halogen lamp out and push in an LED rated to produce the same level of light. For GU10 LED bulbs that’s it, but for MR16 low-voltage lamps you should also purchase an LED driver to replace the 12v transformers previously used.
The same idea (straightforward replacement) also applies to lights installed atop, underneath and inside wall cabinets. Alternatively, add some lighting to these areas if none already exists since LED strip and miniature spot lights are simple to fit, being both light in weight and flexible with respect to being cut or connected to suit any configuration. A common technique is to accent plinths and covings, or if fitted to a kick board to pick out the floor.
Three key considerations should be borne in mind with regard to LED lighting.
1. Quality counts. It’s only natural to count the cost but what really counts with LED lighting is quality and the two are mostly related. Cheap products may look like a bargain but they won’t perform as well or produce the savings you should expect (recall that incandescent bulbs cost little to buy but ultimately represent a terrible waste of money when you calculate the true “cost of ownership”). Look out for respected brands such as Sharp’s Zenigata or the Cree Evolux.
2. True cost. Or what is known as TCO (total cost of ownership). Over a period of 50,000 hours a single LED will incur zero replacement costs and cost as much to run as it costs to buy. Over the same span a halogen lamp will need to be replaced at least 25 times and is likely to incur 1,000 times its purchase price in electricity costs. Even if an LED costs 20 times more (and many do) it’s cheaper just on replacement costs alone and orders of magnitude cheaper on electricity costs.
3. Use. The best way to use LED lights is plenty of them with a mix of brightness and colour temperature and position them to reflect off objects and surfaces. LED lights are high intensity and can be quite harsh if you look at them directly, however they don’t yet “carry” as well as incandescent bulbs. Reflected light however does easily fill a space well with warmer, more diffuse tones and at the same time you get sharp accent lighting on the original feature or surface.
For further information check out these articles that look at the subjects of kitchen lighting ideas and kitchen ceiling lighting in greater detail.
Tags: energy, green issues, halogen lighting, Home & Family, Home Improvement, kitchen lighting, led lighting, lighting, low energy lights, money saving, reduce waste, save energy, save money, technology
