Missouri Insulation & Supply, Inc.

Remodeling

Insulating a Home

What exactly is an insulating system?

The answer starts with the role insulation plays in your home. All insulating products are based on a single basic principle: heat moves from warmer to colder areas. On cold days, warm air from inside tries to get out. On warm days, the hot air outside is trying to get in. Insulation slows this process.

Which means the only way to maximize your home's energy efficiency is to insulate all the areas of your home susceptible to air infiltration and heat transfer. Insulating systems consists of many products working together throughout your home to deliver energy savings and year-round comfort.

Adding Insulation to an Attic

Before you add any insulation to your attic, you need to know how much insulation (R-value) is already there. This is simply done by measuring the thickness of your attic's existing insulation. Most older homes have between 3" and 6" of fiber glass blanket insulation. This is roughly equal to an R-value between R-9 and R-19.

Click here to learn your area's recommended R-values. (The U.S. Department of Energy recommends how much insulation homes in each area of the country should have to achieve optimum energy efficiency.)

Subtract the amount of your attic's existing insulation from your area's recommended R-value to determine how much more should be installed. R-25 insulation is great for adding a second layer to existing attic insulation.

Cathedral Ceilings

The rafters in cathedral ceilings are usually made of 2x12s or 2x10s, and Missouri Insullation offers two Owens Corning special high-density insulation products specifically for these rafters -- R-38C for 2x12s and R-30C for 2x10s. These products are appropriate for cathedral ceilings because the R-38C batt is 10 1/4 inches thick, which leaves over one inch of vent space for free air flow in a 2x12 joist. The R-30C batt, at 8 1/4 inches thickness, is designed to do the same thing in a 2x10 joist.

Exterior Walls

For existing walls, it may be best to have an insulation contractor add loose-fill blown insulation rather than take the wall apart and rebuild.

If your project is a new home, or a remodeling addition, you have a big opportunity to save energy by filling the new exterior walls with insulation, and adding Extra Insulating Power for Exterior Walls by sheathing the outside with FOAMULAR® rigid foam insulation.

Your exterior walls will be comprised of either 2x6 or 2x4 studs. 2x6 stud walls allow for more insulation because of their extra depth. Depending on local codes or your desired R-value for the wall, you may use 5 1/2" thick R-21. R-19 fiber glass batt insulation (6 1/4" thick) can also be used. Compressing it into a 2x6 cavity will lower the R-value to R-18. For 2x4 stud walls, the choices are R-15 or R-13, both of which are 3-1/2 inches thick.

Interior Walls / Noise Control

Many homeowners today are adding noise control to their homes for additional comfort. Workshops, home offices, bathrooms, laundry rooms, bedrooms and recreation or media rooms all have a need to contain sound within the room and/or keep unwanted noise out.

If you are building new rooms, or converting existing areas in the basement or attic into living space, you can make your home a lot more comfortable by controlling the noise in your home.

Floors

Cold floors are a major complaint among homeowners. Often the problem is an uninsulated floor above an unheated crawlspace or basement. If you have a vented crawlspace with insulated ducts and no pipes, the best course of action is to insulate the floor above it.

Crawlspace (Under Floor)

A lot of energy can leak through the floor, so it's important to insulate it correctly. R-19 or R-25 fiber glass batts can be installed in floor applications.

Crawlspace (heated)

In a heated crawlspace or one with uninsulated ducts or water pipes, the walls should be insulated. R-19 PINK fiber glass insulation or R-25 insulation work best for this.

Heating and Cooling (HVAC) Ducts

Missouri Insulation offers Owens Corning fiber glass duct systems which help provide added energy efficiency by reducing energy loss from within your home's HVAC system -- whether it's a complete fiber glass duct system like QuietR™ Duct Board, or liners and wraps for your existing metal ducts. Owens Corning duct products work to help the HVAC system deliver more consistent performance in regulating air temperatures, plus they help reduce noise transmission.

Basement Walls

When insulating a conditioned basement, only the walls need to be insulated. The basement ceiling may be insulated for noise control between floors. "Conditioned" means the space is heated or cooled by a furnace or air conditioning unit.

Prior to insulating a basement, all foundation walls should be checked for water leakage and corrective action taken. Whenever possible, leaks should be sealed on the exterior surface. In addition, the band joist should be caulked and sealed to prevent air infiltration at the construction joints and around all penetrations such as plumbing, electrical lines, and HVAC and dryer vents.

You have three basic options to insulate the walls -- (1) you can construct stud frames at the interior of the foundation walls and fill the cavities with fiber glass insulation; (2) you can install INSULPINK foam insulation board or Basement Blanket to add R-value without sacrificing space to construct framing; or (3) you can use the Owens Corning Basement Finishing System™ which requires no additional paneling or drywall.

Foamular Rigid Foam Insulation for Basement Walls

When higher R-values are not needed, or wall-depth is an issue, an easy-to-install alternative for basement walls is a rigid insulation like Owens Corning FOAMULAR INSULPINK® rigid foam insulation. Their notched-design system makes installation easy and fool-proof. Panels butt together to form a tight, true barrier against air infiltration and energy loss.

Foundation Walls

FOAMULAR® rigid foam insulation installs directly against your foundation wall from the footing to the top of the wall. It offers excellent moisture resistance so it won't lose any insulating power (R-value) even after long-term exposure to wet soil and ponding water. Its rugged construction readily withstands the pressure of backfilling and resists the effects of acids and other decaying elements in the soil.

Or, consider using TUFF-N-DRI® Basement Waterproofing System for a guaranteed dry basement. Its unique two-layer system features Owens Corning WARM-N-DRI® Foundation Board to keep basements warm, dry and comfortable. (TUFF-N-DRI® is a registered trademark of Tremco Barrier Solutions, Inc.)

Under Slab

With a compressive strength of 25 psi, FOAMULAR® 250 rigid foam insulation is an ideal choice to withstand weight for under slab applications. FOAMULAR insulation offers excellent moisture resistance so it won't lose any insulating power (R-value) even after long-term exposure to wet soil. Its rugged construction resists the effects of acids and other decaying elements in the soil.

Missouri Insulation & Supply, Inc.
1348 W. Liberty Ave., Ozark, MO 65721
Ph: (417) 581-5812 • Fax: (417) 581-5901