What Insulation is Best?

This is a question we hear quite often. The short answer is that it depends. There are many different types of insulation with their own merits and drawbacks. Most of us are familiar with the pink insulation that comes in batt form. We can thank the energy crisis of the 1970s for the dominance of the pink fluffy stuff which was used for all new buildings (as the code mandated insulation). These days insulation comes in many forms and from many products so that no matter what part of your home you’d like to insulate, there are multiple ways to get the job done. There are even products like insulated sheathing that enable you to accomplish two things with one product.

I find that it’s better to discuss what the insulation will be used for rather than debate the merits and drawbacks of various insulation materials. And if you have issues with a certain product, there are always alternatives. Below are the materials I prefer for some of the most common home renovations in the GTA.

Up top - the attic

Cellulose is an excellent option when insulating your attic. It’s affordable and has the lowest embodied carbon. Made from recycled print material, you can even blow in the cellulose into your attic yourself (many home hardware stores sell machines that shred the cellulose such as this one here). As with any insulation project, make sure first to inspect the attic space for any moisture related issues and address before insulating (e.g. rot on joists).

Down low - the basement

When insulating a basement it’s very important to make sure that the renovation plan first considers water that may come in through the concrete slab (through capillary action) or the wall (via groundwater). If you are in an area that’s prone to basement flooding, consider insulating from the exterior (as that’s the most sure proof way to deal with moisture) and adding a french drain, or if you can’t dig down on the outside of your walls, a sump pump on the interior. Once moisture is dealt with properly, you can insulate as much as you like!

For basement walls, stone wool (also known as mineral wool or Rockwool) is an excellent choice. Stone wool occurs as a natural byproduct of volcanic activity and is a recycled product made with the stone dust from industrial blast furnaces. It comes in both batt form (goes between the framing) and rigid form (no need for framing).

It’s an excellent insulator if you want to avoid using petroleum products and is both fire resistant and water repellent (this is due to the inherent drying potential of the product which is also resistant to rot, mold and mildew growth). The most cost effective form of basement insulation for the interior involves adding a couple inches of rigid insulation (R8-insulating factor) and then framing with 2x4s and filling those with batt form of Rockwool (R14). Rigid insulation is always a good choice because it provides continuous insulation over the whole wall so that you don’t end up with heat loss that looks like the photo below. 

The lighter areas show the wall studs through which heat can easily flow out of the house in winter.

What about spray foam?

Many contractors prefer to use spray foam, particularly when finishing a basement or third floor cathedral ceiling. This is because some types (closed cell spray foam in particular) do a three for one job of being an air, vapour and heat barrier. It also has on average a higher insulation value per inch than cellulose, fibreglass and rockwool so you can accomplish more and save on space. You may choose not to use it because like most petroleum based products, it just sits in the landfill once it’s no longer needed. However, you may decide that it’s the best material for a job that you are undergoing - and that’s okay too! My job as an energy advisor is present you with choices so you can achieve your green renovation goals.   

What about natural insulation products?

So far we’ve focused on insulation products out there which are both readily available (which means lower cost). There are some emerging natural insulation materials such as hemp grass (which is now being manufactured in Quebec!) With most natural insulation materials, they retain moisture to some extent so should not be used in areas where moisture can pose a problem. I’d probably suggest using it for a home retrofit where insulation is being added to above grade walls from the exterior. It comes in rigid insulation form and could be used in place of any other rigid insulation. As this is a newer product (only started being manufactured in 2018) it may be hard to find in smaller quantities but once builders start using it for new homes, the costs will come down and it should become more readily available.

In short, the world is your oyster when it comes to choosing an insulation product for your home. If you don’t like what a contractor is suggesting, you can always ask for alternatives! Factors such as how the product interacts with moisture, the insulation per inch, cost and ease of installation should be considered to ensure that you choose the best product for your upgrade.

My home office is not comfortable

Since the pandemic hit my partner and I have been, like many Canadians with desk jobs, working from home (okay I don’t always work from home and love the days when I am outside measuring other’s homes and talking with you about your comfort issues). Today, I want to share a bit about my home office and the steps I am taking to make it more comfortable.

A caveat: calling the space an office is quite a generous term. We are in a 3 bedroom semi and with 3 kids, the office is also the master bedroom. But during the day, it serves as an office so hereonin I will refer to it as my home office.

As the temperatures have dipped below zero recently, you’ll often find me working with a blanket wrapped around me and a hot cup of tea on the desk. Sometimes I even don a hat.

Many of us (myself included) would have tried cranking the thermostat or even speculated that our furnace was not sized big enough. Now that I’m an energy advisor, I know that more often than not the path to comfort involves insulation and air sealing rather than upsizing a fossil burning piece of mechanical equipment that has a lifespan of 10 years (although there are times when a heating system is not sized properly and as an energy advisor I am also trained to check this too!)

So what’s the plan? First up, our ducts. This is an area that energy advisors, home inespectors and even HVAC installers don’t typically look at. But I know that my ducts are leaky as the air coming into one of the other bedrooms on the second floor is much more forceful than what is entering my home office. This was confirmed when I brought in Victor. Victor is with Aeroseal Tech. With a free home quote, he confirmed my suspicions, the air flow to my home office is half of what I’m getting from other vents. He was able to determine that at least 30% of my heat wasn’t making it to where it should. Meaning, my ducts are leaky and the heat, rather than getting pushed upstairs, is getting lost in the basement (where we don’t really need it) and in the walls where it slowly dissipates out. You may not think that this is a problem as the heat makes it upstairs eventually (temperature differences like many things in life naturally seek to balance out, I’ll save the physics lessson for later). But the problem is actually two-fold. Not enough hot air is getting to my home office and what little that does get there is leaking out of my home too quickly making that room constantly 2-3 degrees colder that what I’d like.

That brings me to the next section. You might be wondering why this room alone has issues. Part of it is because of leaky ductwork but the other part is because a good portion of the walls are exposed and poorly insulated. The ceiling is above a small attic that most definitely does not (yet!) have any insulation in it. The front wall also does not (yet!) have any insulation. A third of the floor is actually exposed (it hangs over our porch) and it too is not insulated (yet!). So there are both A LOT of exposed walls in this room and most of them are poorly insulated. The only side that is exposed and insulated is the right which has 2” of continuous insulation underneath the siding (we added this when we redid the siding). By putting my hand on the decently insulated and the poorly insulated walls I can feel an extreme temperature difference.

So the plan involves fixing my leaky ductwork and insulating the exposed walls. Two of the three exposed walls have framing and I plan to have cellulose blown inbetween the studs. Then, when we can take on a bigger project, we’ll add more insulation at the same as time when we redo the roof and the siding on the front of the house.

As far as insulating walls goes, blowing in cellulose between the studs is a relatively uninvasive low-cost approach. A insulating company will drill 2” holes between the studs, fill them with insulation, and patch over the walls leaving me with warm comfy walls and only a few spots that need to be painted over. We’re timing this work so that it’s done before we need to repaint.

I’ve started getting quotes on the insulation work and have the duct sealing scheduled for next Wednesday. I am SOOO looking forward to a more comfortable office in 2021! I promise to keep you posted on my home comfort adventures. If you have a problem with an uncomfortable home office, I’d love to chat and see if we can help!