Heat leaves a building by the easiest route available. Across a properly insulated wall that route is slow and spread out fairly evenly. But push a steel stud, a cladding bracket, a window reveal or…
Your heating bill could drop by 90%. That’s not a typo. Understanding what is superinsulation explains how some homes stay warm with little more than body heat and appliance waste heat, even in frigid climates.…
A material that is 99% air yet blocks heat better than any traditional insulation on the market. Sounds impossible. It’s not. Understanding what is aerogel insulation matters if you’re tackling tight spaces, historic building retrofits,…
Your walls might be bleeding energy right now. Gaps around studs, uninsulated headers, and cold spots at corners add up fast. Rigid foam board insulation solves these problems by wrapping your building envelope in continuous…
Your insulation might be doing half its job. Gaps and cracks in your home’s envelope let conditioned air escape constantly, and most homeowners never notice until the energy bills arrive. Air sealing closes those pathways.…
Sheep’s wool insulation is a natural fiber insulation made from raw sheep fleece processed into batts, rolls, or loose-fill products for building applications. The wool comes from annual shearing, mostly sourced from British wool, New…
Moisture destroys insulation. It rots wood framing, grows mold, and turns your walls into petri dishes. Understanding what vapor barrier insulation is helps you prevent these problems before they start. A vapor barrier controls how…
Heat leaves a building at a rate you can put a number on. That number is the U-value, and it covers a whole element rather than any one material inside it: watts lost per square…
Open the hatch on an older attic and you’ll usually find one of two things between the joists. Either fiberglass batts sitting in neat rectangles, or a loose gray or pink layer that clearly got…
Every batt, roll, and bag of insulation sold in this country has a number stamped somewhere on the packaging. That number is the R-value, and it comes from dividing the material’s thickness by its thermal…
Your walls might be costing you hundreds of dollars every year. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that heating and cooling account for 50-70% of energy use in average American homes. Choosing the right types…
Precut panels that wedge into stud and joist bays. R-13 through R-38, faced and unfaced, and the installation mistakes that quietly eat your rated performance. A batt is a precut panel of insulation, dimensioned to…
Shredded newspaper and a two-part plastic resin end up fighting over the same stud bay. That is the strange part of this comparison. Code does not take sides. Attic and wall R-value targets are identical…
Volcanic rock transformed into fluffy insulation fibers. Sounds strange, but that’s exactly what rock wool is. This mineral-based material has been keeping buildings warm, quiet, and fire-safe since the 1870s. Yet many homeowners still don’t…
Pull down the hatch on an average American attic and you will find one of about five things up there. Fiberglass, cellulose, mineral wool, spray foam, or rigid foam board. Each resists heat flow at…