How insulation work
Heat flows naturally from warmer to cooler space. In winter, the heat moves directly from all heated living spaces to the outdoors and above your ceiling, garage, or wherever there is a difference in temperature. During summer, heat moves from the outdoors to the interior of your home, causing it to overheat.
To maintain comfort, the heat lost in winter must be replaced with a heating system and the heat gained in summer can be removed by an air conditioner, but it can be costly. However, insulating ceilings, walls and floors decreases the heating or cooling needed by providing an effective resistance to the flow of heat.
Why insulate
Insulating your home can benefit you in a number of ways:
- It ensures optimal comfort during hot summer and cold winter days
- It conserves energy as a well-insulated home requires less heating or cooling to achieve comfortable inside temperatures
- It promotes good health as insulation eliminates internal condensation, thereby reducing mould growth and resultant exposure to bacteria
There are various options available when it comes to insulating a ceiling, such as Thermguard (made from recycled newsprint).
Thermguard
With the installation of modern machinery from the United States, Thermguard has been able to reduce the density of the product by 20%. This allows more air to be trapped between the fibres giving the customer, a lighter, less expensive product with superior insulation values.
The cellulose fibre is loose-fill insulation and is blown onto the ceiling. As a result it gets into all the hard to reach nooks and crannies of your roof, providing a totally seamless blanket where no heat gains and losses can occur. Any gaps in roof insulation would reduce its effectiveness, but with Thermguard, you will never have this problem.
Cellulose fibre is a very effective soundproofing material and Thermguard is four times as dense as glass fibre and therefore has excellent acoustic values. When installed at 100mm, and thicker, Thermguard will have a Noise Reduction Co-efficient of .80 – .90. This means that .80 – .90 of the sound will be absorbed by the insulation.
Thermguard is treated with fire retardant additives and withstands the heat of a blow lamp without melting or emitting noxious fumes.
The additives in Thermguard, while harmless to humans, irritate insects and rodents, hence they will not live in the fibres. As a result, fitting the product is actually an effective form of pest control in your roof.
