Episode 009 1995 - 96 Season
| Attic Insulation | Clogged up Sink | Remodeling | Baking Soda | Foam Insulation | Private Mortgage Insurance | |
To order a Video Tape, call 1-800-TO-BUILD and ask for Episode #009.
Michael Holigan: We spent a lot of time looking at fiberglass and how to insulate a home. Now we've got a new product that's making big gains in the energy field to show you how to save money every month on your utility bills. We've got a specialist with me, Ron Upton, from Thermal Zone. Good to have you here Ron.
Ron Upton: Morning Michael. Thank you, glad to be here.
M.H.: Hey, help me out. We've got a steel frame house here. We're afraid that it may conduct heat and cool and may cost us some money. What are you going to do to stop that?
R.U.: Well one of the big problems we have with metal frames, and as you know they are the future of construction in this country, is that we inject into an energy efficient home a new thing and that's the conductance of heat from the outside directly through the metal beams themselves which are extremely good conductors of electricity. So, what we have developed is a hatrail system which creates this cavity between the exterior sheeting on the wall and the metal which will conduct the heat. We come in with a polyicynene foam which is a spray foam and shot at about 1800 pounds of pressure, 150 degrees, expands at about a ratio of about 1/100 which completely envelopes, encapsulates all of the openings inside of the C-channels and between the exterior sheeting and the beam itself and creates a thermal break that makes an energy efficient steel frame house.
M.H.: So it really can't conduct it because even between the exterior wall and the stud, there is going to be an insulation.
R.U.: That's right. You've got a thermal break in there about an inch, inch and a half deep which keeps that conductive heat from coming directly through the insulation and directly into the beam.
M.H.: Okay, and if we had tried to stick fiberglass back there we would of collapsed it and actually shut down the air capsule....
R.U.: Well that's the real problem. When fiberglass comes in bats, as you know, and you have to cut pieces of it, whack it, chop it and squish it to make it fit back there. And when you compress fiberglass you force the air out of it which gives fiberglass its ability to insulate, so for all intensive purposes, you might as well use cotton in that cavity.
M.H.: There would have been the same problem in the cavity inside the stud itself. You would of had to compress it.
R.U.: Inside the C-channels, that's correct. Any irregular shape is very, very difficult to insulate with fiberglass batting.
M.H.: Okay, well even with a wood frame house we're going to have quite a few irregular shapes. With the foam you can take care of that in wood.
R.U.: Absolutely.
M.H.: It's not just for steel homes.
R.U.: Oh no. It's for all types of construction, tremendous energy efficiency. Not only does it have a very high R rating, but it eliminates the infiltration of air, which is about 30% of your total utility costs for air conditioning and heating.
M.H.: Is just air coming in and out of the house?
R.U.: Right. The house goes positive when you start a fan or a fireplace, whatever the case may be, the house will suck. If the wind's blowing on the outside of the house, the house is constantly exhaling or inhaling air, unwanted, unconditioned air into the home and we pay good dollars to heat it or cool it.
M.H.: Okay, well we have a lot of places in this home, let's say right around the copper going to the outside there, that normally we would seal with foam. Now, you're not going to do that because the whole house is going to be foamed.
R.U.: That's correct. We're really going to create a cooler box and turn it upside down and put it on. And openings that go through the wall like copper piping and plumbing and all of the many protrusions that we have through the exterior wall instead of having to take a special step to seal those up, the foam expanding at a rate of 1/100 will completely envelope and fill all of the voids.
M.H.: So even from the outside we can see that foam expanding out?
R.U.: All I can say, when you get done with the house you look outside, you'll be amazed at the cracks that you could even see with your eye where the foams has come through all over the place.
M.H.: Ron, what kind of R value are going to get out of this wall. It looks like it's about eight inches wide.
R.U.: You're right Michael. We've got actually seven and 5/8 on this wall panel which is going to give us an R value in excess of oh, R30, but when you compare it with fiberglass, it'll be even greater than that.
M.H.: Now, here you have a R4 sheathing laying in here. What do we need the sheathing for?
R.U.: This sheathing is turned on its side when we shoot the wall cavities and what it is to support the foam and we'll demonstrate that for you when we shoot the foam. The foam expands at a rate of 1/100 in a 360 degree radius. It doesn't just expand out. It goes left, right, up, down, in and out. That's how it fills all the voids. So we need something to support the foam at a distance of about 16 inches so it just doesn't come out and run out of the cavity.
M.H.: Okay. So on a wood frame house we would of had studs every 16 inches in the wall.
R.U. The standard framing system is 16 inches in a wood cavity, so you don't need the support for the foam.
M.H.: Does it cost a lot to put the foam in?
R.U.: It cost more to install the foam than it does a typical fiberglass bat insulation. Somewhere in the vicinity of three times as much. But on a 2,000 square foot home your payback is somewhere within two and a half to three years.
M.H.: Ron, appreciate the help.
R.U.: Thank you very much.
Episode 009 1995 - 96 Season
| Attic Insulation | Clogged up Sink | Remodeling | Baking Soda | Foam Insulation | Private Mortgage Insurance | |
To order a Video Tape, call 1-800-TO-BUILD and ask for Episode #009.