So you want to know where to insulate your home to get the best result? When you hear of insulation you naturally think about insulating your roof. You may not realise that while roof insulation accounts for the biggest potential heat loss, as much as 18-25% of your home’s heat can be lost through external walls, and 12-14% through its floors.
In most New Zealand homes there are three main areas that you should insulate and these represent the main components of a building’s exterior surfaces:
1. The Walls
2. The Roof
3. The Floors
Wall Insulation:
The walls represent the home’s largest exterior surface area and can be responsible for most of your home’s heat loss. Most New Zealand homes are built with a space (called a cavity) between the internal and external walls. By drilling a small hole in the exterior wall, you can fill the cavity and that helps create a barrier between the outside and inside air temperatures.
We recommend CosyWall for filling your wall cavity. CosyWall is completely safe and poses no health risks. It has a high R-values and is extremely durable, lasting up to 50 years.
Roof Insulation:
Heat rises and can easily escape through an uninsulated roof. Installing roof insulation is one of the most cost effective ways to improve the energy efficiency of your home.
You can choose from a range of blankets, segments or blown insulation to insulate your roof, all of which can be easily installed into your roof cavity.
We recommend Loft for most New Zealand homes. Loft is a loose fill glasswool product, blown into the roof cavity by a professional installer. Loft fills the gaps that blankets and batts often leave, and it covers the whole ceiling.
Floor Insulation
Many New Zealand houses have a suspended timber floor which heat can escape through. You can insulate your floors with blown insulation, installed under the floor and held in place with a membrane.
We recommend Warmafloor for insulating your floors. Warmafloor is blown glasswool, made for New Zealand floors and midfloors. It has an expected life of more than 50 years, is quick to install and helps keep your house comfortable all year round.
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