Home Builder Shawn Jessup, owner of S. D. Jessup Construction, Inc., is now a five-time winner of a DOE Housing Innovation Award, recognizing forward-thinking builders constructing energy-efficient homes on the path to Net Zero. Having accomplished this feat first in 2017 and for the past four consecutive years, that puts him in rare company.
Details »Insulation Institute Blog
Posts Categorized: Insulation
New Study Details Enormous Insulation Retrofit Benefits
6 Fixes for an Energy Star Home Upgrade
This past Spring, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Program launched a new initiative, the ENERGY STAR Home Upgrade, targeting six high-impact energy efficiency improvements for existing homes to cut energy use and cost. These fixes will also improve home comfort and lead to a cleaner, healthier home.
Details »We Should Talk About Insulation More
“We need to think about insulation, or to start thinking about it in the first place,” says a Vox news story this week. As part of a series that addresses our warming world, Vox writer Neel Dhanesha calls insulation the climate solution hiding in our walls. There’s no time like today — Earth Day — to talk about insulation’s important role as a tool for pollution reduction.
Details »NAIMA Releases New 3E Plus Software
NAIMA recently released a new version of its popular 3E Plus software, which allows users to calculate the appropriate thickness necessary for any application of pipe or mechanical insulation.
Details »25 Checkpoints for Inspecting Insulation Jobs
Most home builders have a point-person responsible for ensuring that tradespeople are completing their work as specified. For some, that means there’s someone physically walking through homes after the insulation has been installed to ensure that the job is done properly. But do they know where to look? Our 25 checkpoints guide can help.
Details »Blown-in Insulation’s Measures and Checks
Blown-in insulation installers know that measuring it in an attic is key to delivering the required thermal performance and receiving a Grade I install. That is typically accomplished by installing attic rulers throughout the space, so there is one for every 300 sq. feet of attic space. Accurate measures are needed to meet code requirements, according to Chris Conway, President of Conway Energy, a building science consulting firm that specializes in single and multi-family construction. No matter how experienced the installer is, you’re going to want to measure every time and check in multiple locations. But there are times when that measurement can be off.
Details »A Hot New Home and Missing Insulation
New homeowner Evelyn Cagnetti recently contacted NAIMA to share her frustration about her new Energy Star home, which she had built in February of last year. Shortly after moving in, Evelyn noticed that the upstairs was hot, stale, and stuffy during the winter months. Still, she didn’t know why until she checked the second-floor ceiling and found insulation remnants but no insulation.
Details »Trading Off Thermal Resistance is a Very, Very Bad Idea
If you’ve been following our blog for some time now, you know that we write regularly about basic building science. In fact, we completed a primer, Building Science 101 with Building Scientist Allison Bailes a few years back. Dr. Bailes, a Georgia resident, recently wrote the state’s Department of Community Affairs to object to a proposal that would allow as little as R-20 spray polyurethane foam (SPF) insulation to be used on the underside of the roof deck in new homes built in the state when R-38 is required. You may ask why R-20 SPF at a blower door rating of 3ACH 50 was proffered as a substitute for R-38 and 5ACH 50. So did Bailes.
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