Don't Get Cold Feet

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 05:26:00 GMT

It's a terrible feeling getting out of bed on a winter's morning and stepping onto what feels like an ice rink. If this is a situation you are way too familiar with then perhaps floor insulation is for you.

Stopping the radiant heat loss from a floor often has only a minor impact on the temperature of the room above it however it does have a major impact on the temperature of the floor itself. Stopping heat escaping from your floor means that it will feel much warmer under foot and be a lot more comfortable on those frosty winter mornings.

Here's a few tips to consider when considering floor insulation...

Make sure that your ceiling and walls are adequately insulated to maximize the performance of your floor insulation. Because heat rises it is important to stop it from escaping at the top and sides of your home prior to focusing on downward loss
Choose a product that best suits the access and construction type of your floor. Seek the advice of an insulation expert to recommend what is best for your home.
Remember floor insulation works best on surfaces that have little thermal mass or ability to conduct heat, for example timber floors. Surfaces with large amounts of bridged thermal mass such as concrete slabs under bathrooms should only be insulated if the slab can be isolated from any point where thermal bridging can occur. Typically this has to be done with foam paneling at the time of construction and is almost impossible to retrofit. Installing insulation underneath thermally bridged surfaces make little to no difference to the comfort level of the floor.
Remember an additional benefit of insulating a timber floor is that floor insulation seals up all the gaps and cracks in the floor and stops unwanted drafts leaking into your home. To boost this effect it is worthwhile sealing up any other points in your home where heat can escape. Windows, doors, exhaust fans and downlights are the usual suspects for air leakage but with the right products can all be effectively sealed off to prevent any unnecessary heat loss.

If you'd like to find out about floor insulation for your home contact the insulation experts at Vac to the Future Insulation today.

Why the thermal efficiency deficiency?

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 08:30:00 GMT

Despite being subject to drastically varying temperatures throughout the year, Canberra homes like most of Australia, are typically under insulated. It’s easy to establish an argument that poor building and energy efficiency standards in the past have resulted in the poorly insulated housing stock we have today. However, identifying the barriers that home owners face in upgrading their home’s insulation is a slightly more challenging task.

An article released today on The-RiotACT has a look at the barriers holding Australian's back from installing adequate insulation in their homes. To read the article, click here.