So you want to insulate your home but should you use fiberglass cellulose or
spray foam? Let's talk about it.
Welcome to Foam University today we're going to be discussing the options of
fiberglass, cellulose and spray foam and which is
best for your home. Before we dive into this, please go below
make that thumbs up blue for us, thanks. So, the first point of comparison
we're going to be discussing is effectiveness and when we're looking
at fiberglass, cellulose and spray foam and
comparing which one is the most effective for your home.
Well, there's a few things to look at, you know we think about r-value right, which
product has the most r-value, and kind of along the lines of r-value
which product and, or material has the best thermal
resistance, or are there other things to keep in
mind that would make one more effective over the others. So, if we
lay this out in a good, better, best type situation fiberglass
would be a good option. It is a good enough. You can
effectively insulate a home with fiberglass. There are some added steps
that you have to keep in mind, you have to take some measures
beforehand to make sure you get a seal and things like that, make sure it's laid
in properly, but it can be good enough. Cellulose
could be looked at as a better option. It does have a stronger thermal
resistance, you're typically looking at a higher r-value,
and it can last longer, again depending on some situations.
So cellulose would be a better alternative.
Whereas spray foam in pretty much any category will be the
best option. The reason being is its effectiveness
comes in place with, yes, it has a really good r-value it has an
outstanding thermal resistance but it also
has some added benefits. One being air seal, which we'll talk about in just a
moment. So let's talk about air seal. First off,
why is having an air seal important in your
insulation material? Well, simply put heat transfers much
much faster through air movement than through
conductive heat loss, which is what our value
measures. So if we keep that in mind we can then appreciate how important it is
to establish an air seal on your building envelop. So if
we keep in mind that spray foam does provide that air seal, it
helps us understand why that is looked at as the best option. If
we go down the line at cellulose, cellulose does not provide an air seal,
however it does have more of a thermal resistance
capability than fiberglass, and there are some measures that you can put in place
to help fiberglass and cellulose establish an air seal. So when you're
looking at these two, again, you can establish air seal on your
walls, attic that sort of thing ,crawl space in
the area of the house, however it's not in the material itself.
You will have to take some outside measurements to make sure you
have the air seal around the house, if you're going to use fiberglass, a good
option or a better option cellulose, but again the best thing to do would be
to use a material like spray foam that has an air seal with the material.
So the next thing we're going to talk about is maintenance. What type of
maintenance do these three materials require for your home?
Well let's look at fiberglass first. Fiberglass over time
will break down and you will need to replace or add to it.
Specifically let's talk about your attic for this topic,
because this is the easiest area for you to get in and add to or maintain
that material. As your fiberglass breaks down like I said, you will need to add
layers to your fiberglass, whether it's blown in
or if you have rolled bats up in the attic area.
The other thing is you will have to maintain venting,
because if you're going to use fiberglass, most likely you're going to
have it on the floor of the attic which is fine,
just keep in mind that will add to the maintenance level.
Moving on to cellulose, again you will have
the same level of maintenance. You will have to check that out
make sure it has not broken down, and eventually you will have to add to it
over the years. One thing with cellulose or any type of
blown in material, is it has a tendency to drift or bank
inside your attic, because you will have airflow, keep in mind we mentioned
you're going to have venting if you have a blown in material on the floor,
that venting introduces airflow into the attic space.
That airflow can push the blown-in material up against
walls or any type of structure inside the attic space.
That pushing can leave low spots on the floor, which can leave you short on
insulation where you need it. So you will need to go up into the attic and
maintain those blown in materials. You may have to re-rake and eventually you
will have to add layers to it, keep that in mind.
Moving on to spray foam, you will not have to maintain this
material. It is a one and done solution, where once it is sprayed on
it is typically warranted to stay in place and stay at that effectiveness
for the lifetime of the building. You will never have to go in and add layers
to it because it's broken down or anything like that.
Touching on venting real quick when it comes to spray foam, yes you can put
spray foam on the floor of your attic just like you would
a blown in material, however it's typically recommended to put spray foam
on the roof deck going to a ventless system. So that's just another
thing to keep in mind, another measure where spray foam can go to a totally
free maintenance option. So the last thing we're going to look at
is cost. Of course this will always be a factor
when we're looking at any type of material or project for our home.
So if we're looking at fiberglass, fiberglass is by far going to be the
least expensive material, it is available at
pretty much any big box store, you can get this almost anywhere and like i said
it will usually be your lowest cost. Cellulose bumping up, you can find this
at big box stores, you can use this as a DIY option. So that is
available as well, however usually you're going to have a
contractor involved. So you're stepping up in price, you're stepping up in
effectiveness, and a lot of other things like we've talked about,
but with those additions and effectiveness
comes additions in cost. So keep that in mind, and of course
spray foam will always be the most expensive option.
So keep in mind you're having a company come in, you're having a contractor come
in, with a truck and trailer usually, you're
getting a warranty that's lasting lifetime in the building in most cases.
So all those additional things will lead up to spray foam
being the most expensive option. So these are some things to keep in mind when
you're comparing fiberglass, cellulose, spray foam to
insulate your home. If you want to learn more about
comparing fiberglass, cellulose and spray foam for insulating your home,
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