If you’ve ever lived in an old or historic home, you may have noticed that it’s quite leaky and doesn’t hold the heat in too well in the dead of winter. That’s because homes that were constructed more than 50 years ago were often missing a component that we consider crucial today: insulation.
Insulation serves many purposes in the home, including:
Increased thermal comfort
Reduced heat loss from heating and cooling
Acoustic properties
Reduction of condensation
The History of Insulation Types in Old Homes
Construction methods have evolved throughout history by capitalizing on different materials and methods available at the time. Consider a rustic log cabin—often, the thickness of the load-bearing exterior wooden walls was all you got in terms of insulating value. Likewise, many historic homes were constructed of thick masonry walls that provided some thermal gain advantages, but lacked a separate type of home insulation for walls.
We didn’t start to see the insulation that we have in a typical residential home today until after 1965, when building codes began requiring it. From that point forward, builders began using fiberglass batts in the wall cavity for standard home construction, among other methods.
What Are the Different Types of Home Insulation?
In residential construction, there are many types of insulation for homes. Depending on each wall type, you have various options to choose from.
Masonry Cavity Walls
For example, modern masonry walls are constructed as veneers rather than solid brick. With this construction method, there is an air space cavity between a column of concrete block and the exterior-facing brick veneer. A cavity wall system includes several components, including insulation. A masonry cavity wall can accept many home insulation types in the following forms:
Mineral Wool Boards
Polyisocyanurate Boards
Polystyrene Beads
Spray Foam
Fiberglass Batts
Wood Stud Wall Cavities
On the other hand, wood stud walls commonly used in residential construction are often insulated with fiberglass batts between the studs. Still, there are even more different types of insulation used in homes, including cellulose loose-fill, polystyrene foam panels, and even structural insulated panels or insulating concrete forms.
The Best Type of Insulation for New Home Construction
When choosing the best type of insulation for home applications, it’s important to look at all of your options. With the increased focus on sustainability and enhanced energy efficiency, you might be looking for the best type of home insulation and it might not be what you think.
Traditional fiberglass batts in wood stud walls, for example, are limited in R-value to the width of the studs being used since the wall can only be 3-½” thick for a 2x4 stud wall. This material also fails to address thermal bridging and does not carry a continuous R-value across the wall surface.
The best home insulation types are those that provide an adequate thermal barrier for your climate. In some applications, it might be easier and less expensive to achieve the desired thermal values by using continuous insulation in the form of rigid foam boards.
Continuous Insulation vs. Cavity Insulation
Continuous insulation is a rigid board often used on the exterior of walls or roofs. It is installed uninterrupted and provides a consistent R-value across the entire surface area of the envelope. Polyiso and other continuous insulation products can be installed on either side of stud walls, foundation walls, basement walls, roofs, attics, and more.
When comparing home insulation types pros and cons, continuous insulation comes out on top because it provides:
Continuous and consistent thermal values
Virtually unlimited space to install the insulation to achieve desired R-Values
High R-Value in a minimal thickness
Fast and easy installation in both new construction and retrofit applications
If a cavity wall is a must-have in your home project, you can still use polyiso or other rigid foam boards. These versatile insulating materials can be installed inside the cavity, as well as used in a continuous application on one side of the cavity wall.
Best Types of Insulation for Your Home
If you’re looking for specific types of home insulation products, below are some offerings that are great options for residential applications for continuous insulation:
Residential Wall Insulation
Rmax carries a wide range of home wall insulation types that can be applied in a manner that achieves continuous insulation. This includes below-grade applications such as Thermasheath® that doubles to protect your waterproofing and also provides thermal comfort in your basement.
Thermasheath®-SI can be used as structural wall insulation, or Therma Base-CI™ can be used to provide a nailbase backing for exterior finishes. Durasheath® is another energy performance option for insulating narrow spaces in homes such as cavity walls.
Residential Roof Insulation
Your vertical surfaces aren’t the only ones that you’ll want to insulate. Heat often escapes through attics, ceilings, and roofs. Here are some types of home insulation materials used in roofing applications:
Sarnatherm® Iso
Sarnatherm® CG
Sarnatherm® Roof Board
Let Rmax Find the Best Type of Insulation for Your Home Design
So, what is the best type of insulation for a home? If you’re making that decision, Rmax can help you choose the best type of home insulation for your project. Rmax offers a wide variety of polyiso solutions to get your home insulated better than you could ever imagine and we have innovative solutions that will work with your design to achieve the thermal values you desire.
Reach out to your local representative today for help with your project!