One thing people are not so much aware about other than insulation is air sealing. A tiny gap that may seem like nothing is in fact very bad. Take windows notoriously bad for heat and air leaks. A small seam along a window that isn't locked (it should be) could be the equivalent of having a 1cm hole in the wall.
If insulated well and air sealed a home would lose very little energy. But also you'd need a good air handling system to move and refresh the air.
But also you'd need a good air handling system to move and refresh the air.
And therein is the rub! Ventilation is critical in building design and many older houses cannot easily be retrofitted with a mechanical ventilation system, not to mention the costs.
Also, sealing air gaps is pretty much impossible in a house that wasn't built this way. I have been trying all kinds of things in my (30 year old) house to seal up gaps but there are spaces inside the floors to the outside through small mortar gaps, spaces behind electrical sockets, gaps in various parts of the floor and even around windows between the finishing.
I would personally like to see a more top-level view from governments. In the UK, for instance, they should be targetting the oldest housing stock and simply replacing it. I know this is hard because people own their freeholds but if we are serious and if someone would get a nice warm house in return for their old house then I think most people would be up for it.
Have you heard of AeroBarrier[0]? It's an aerosolized silicon sealant that is sprayed throughout a home while a pressure door system is used to negatively pressurize a house. The silicon is sucked through all the tiny gaps and fills them. It's pretty crazy.
That's right. The other day I drove by a house that's currently undergoing renovation, but the guy who owns the house does everything himself in a jack-of-all-trades kind of manner. He had put on a nice thick layer of insulation on the outside, but the sheets/blocks were apparently too short in some parts or simply fitted poorly, and in other areas I saw that he had just used some left-over cut-offs of various shapes and sizes in what looked almost like a mosaic. To make everything stick and fit, tons of sprayfoam has been used in an attempt to fill the inevitable large gaps (1 inch) between the blocks.
I kinda feel sorry for the guy, investing all the hard work and having good intentions, but due to poor workman ship he cannot expect to get the insulating effects he's surely hoping for.
Comments
One thing people are not so much aware about other than insulation is air sealing. A tiny gap that may seem like nothing is in fact very bad. Take windows notoriously bad for heat and air leaks. A small seam along a window that isn't locked (it should be) could be the equivalent of having a 1cm hole in the wall.
If insulated well and air sealed a home would lose very little energy. But also you'd need a good air handling system to move and refresh the air.
And therein is the rub! Ventilation is critical in building design and many older houses cannot easily be retrofitted with a mechanical ventilation system, not to mention the costs.
Also, sealing air gaps is pretty much impossible in a house that wasn't built this way. I have been trying all kinds of things in my (30 year old) house to seal up gaps but there are spaces inside the floors to the outside through small mortar gaps, spaces behind electrical sockets, gaps in various parts of the floor and even around windows between the finishing.
I would personally like to see a more top-level view from governments. In the UK, for instance, they should be targetting the oldest housing stock and simply replacing it. I know this is hard because people own their freeholds but if we are serious and if someone would get a nice warm house in return for their old house then I think most people would be up for it.
Have you heard of AeroBarrier[0]? It's an aerosolized silicon sealant that is sprayed throughout a home while a pressure door system is used to negatively pressurize a house. The silicon is sucked through all the tiny gaps and fills them. It's pretty crazy.
[0] https://aeroseal.com/aerobarrier/how-aerobarrier-works/
That's right. The other day I drove by a house that's currently undergoing renovation, but the guy who owns the house does everything himself in a jack-of-all-trades kind of manner. He had put on a nice thick layer of insulation on the outside, but the sheets/blocks were apparently too short in some parts or simply fitted poorly, and in other areas I saw that he had just used some left-over cut-offs of various shapes and sizes in what looked almost like a mosaic. To make everything stick and fit, tons of sprayfoam has been used in an attempt to fill the inevitable large gaps (1 inch) between the blocks.
I kinda feel sorry for the guy, investing all the hard work and having good intentions, but due to poor workman ship he cannot expect to get the insulating effects he's surely hoping for.