Insulation and Air Tightness

Heating and cooling accounts for over half of our domestic energy consumption and thus should be conserved as best as possible. The leading causes for energy waste in most homes are inadequate insulation and excessive air leakage.
Almost 25% of Irelands total energy consumption is used to heat our buildings, therefore it makes sense that we should make every effort to conserve the heat.
Energy conserved through the use of insulation far outweighs the energy used in its manufacture. Only when a building achieves a very low heating standard, such as in a passive home, does the embodied energy of the insulation material become significant.

In addition to saving energy in your home, insulation will make your house more comfortable by helping to maintain a uniform temperature throughout the house. Walls, ceilings, and floors will be warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Insulation can also act as a sound absorber or barrier, keeping noise levels down.

Installing or improving the levels of insulation is possible in almost any house. You may be able to do the job yourself if the structural framing is accessible – for instance, in an unfinished attic space or on the ceiling below an unheated space. Alternatively you may prefer to hire an insulation contractor. In either case, it is important to choose and install the insulation correctly as if you neglect a spot the wind and cold will find it and infiltrate through the point of least resistance.

Insulation levels higher than those required in the Building Regulations are in many cases economically justified. Insulation should be well distributed around the exterior fabric of the building. Good overall levels of insulation are preferable to having inconsistent levels through out the buildings shell, e.g. having highly insulated walls with poor roof insulation.

The durability of insulation affects its performance, e.g. settlement, physical degradation, vapour permeability and air movement. Buildings may also perform poorer than expected in energy terms due to poor quality workmanship in installing the insulation. To achieve the levels of energy efficiency predicted at the design stage, it is very important to ensure good quality workmanship and supervision throughout the works.

Penetration of the buildings insulated shell should be kept to a minimum when designing pipe-work and cabling. All exterior doors and windows should be fitted with factory applied draught seals. Porches and draught lobbies may be considered when designing the building as they will reduce draughts at external doors.