It's like a play house

[jchammonds]

Our house is in the process of being wrapped in styrofoam! Lol. No, really:

Comments

[peachysudweeks]

That is interesting! You'd never guess what was under the finished product. :)

[jchammonds]

I know! Then, the inside insulation will be spray foam, so it's like double foam insulation. With the winters as they are in UT, I'd think this product would be more popular!

[peachysudweeks]

I don't know anyone who has built from scratch, though. There are lots of new houses but they're in cookie cutter neighborhoods and not very customized. So I'm not sure how many options you could get with insulation.

[mybonnykate]

Wow, it's styrofoam! I've never seen that before. You'd think that Mainers would be well-versed in insulation options too, but it's still all blown-in, foam, and Tyvek out there. (I agree that you're going to end up consuming less carbon with a well-insulated house than the production of your insulation material will give off.)

[jchammonds]

This foam wrap adds R18. (I thought it was 11, but Scott corrected me). I looked up, and in Mane, the standard is R19. In KY, it is more like R13. However, "a wood frame wall is made up of several components, not all of which have the same R-value. For instance, a 2x4 or 2x6 stud has an R-value of about R-5 or R-7. Every 14.5 inches or so, one of these components breaks the insulation layer and forms a 'thermal bridge', conducting heat or cold through the walls at high rates. Adding up the area of studs, plates, and headers, 12% to 16% of the total wall area is an R-5 or R-7 thermal bridge, all detracting from the stated R-value." So, this is a true R18 bc it covers everything except windows. Then, our inside spray foam between studs will be R 13. This stuff, plus our geothermal HVAC and tankless water heater should make us vey energy efficient!

[estrange]

Interesting. If it's helping with heating, I think it's ok.