Michael Holigan: Did you know that if your home is not well insulated that you're losing money every month? Well, now there's a new insulation that not only saves you money, but it also makes for a healthier home. When I say insulation, do you picture this? This is cellulose insulation being blown into an attic. Or maybe you think of fiberglass bats being stuffed into the walls. Well, here's a new one for you. It's called Icynene. It's made by mixing two liquids as they come out of the tip of this spray gun. When they combine they react to one another and expand to 100 times the original volume. Graeme, how long does it take for the foam to become rigid?
Graeme Kirkland: About ten seconds. As you see, it isn't really rigid. It's quite soft.
MH: And still crush it. Lot of little cells in there. What do they do?
GK: Well, they entrap the air inside the foam. In fact, what you're holding in your hand is 99% air.
MH: And the air is actually what insulates the house.
GK: Exactly. And to insulate air it has to be kept stationary and this does an extremely good job of keeping it stationary.
MH: The foam fills every crack and crevice allowing less air to escape from your house. That means that you don't have to heat or cool new air and that saves you money. And since the foam is sprayed in it makes it easier for the installer to get to problem areas. Corners are always the trouble spot for people putting in insulation. You've got a stud going both directions, so it's hard to get back behind it. With the foam insulation, we drill some holes and we're just going to fill it full of foam right from here. The foam also works great for filling holes and cracks created by plumbing, electrical wiring and dryer vents. Those are places that are usually hard to insulate and they also usually leak a lot of air. With the foam, we're going to totally seal that off and it's going to be a very well insulated area.
Building an energy efficient home means that it needs to be virtually airtight and that's not easy to do. Usually that means vapor barriers, air barriers, building wraps, caulking, ceiling and the list goes on and on. Icynene doesn't eliminate all those things, it makes them work better. And once your house is airtight you can reduce the dust, pollen and other things in the air that float around your house. How? Add a ventilation system to bring in fresh air and add an air cleaner to remove dust particles. Now you have a healthier home.
GK: The first condition required for a healthy home is you've got to control the air inside. What you do in an Icynene home is you have mechanical ventilation and we change the air mechanically in the house once, say, every three hours. So that's bringing in fresh air and you can put in an air cleaner which can remove even the very finest dust particles and this makes the home a lot more comfortable for people who suffer from allergies or from asthma.
MH: Another advantage of a well insulated house is that you can control the humidity. That's a big plus no matter where you live. And let's not forget, a better insulated home is a quieter home.
GK: Building a quiet room requires that first thing you have is an airtight wall because sound travels through air first. By eliminating air leakage in the wall you effectively block the sound out.
MH: And believe it or not insulation can help you get a lower interest rate on your mortgage. There are energy efficient mortgages out there for people with well-insulated homes.
GK: To qualify for an energy efficient mortgage typically the home has to meet certain standards which are about 30% higher than your average home. And that is very easy to accomplish with Icynene. Once you pass that test those energy efficient mortgages are very attractive because you get a slightly lower interest rate.
MH: And with the energy efficient mortgage you don't need as much annual income to qualify. Your lender knows that your energy bills will be lower and that means there's more money left over to spend on your monthly mortgage payment.
Contacts:
Icynene: 800-758-7325 or www.icynene.on.ca
Episode 49 1997 - 98 Season
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