Misinformation

I am amazed by an article I just read in Builder magazine and not in a good way. Builder magazine is probably one of the most read periodicals by the production builder field in the country. These are people responsible for a majority of our new housing.  Lets hope the decision makers are not influenced too much by what they read in one of the magazine's featured articles called Build Smart!

The mag has some great information in it. Mainly economic data.

It is insulting however, that in this age of enlightenment on Energy Efficiency, such a prominent magazine would be publishing such bad advice. I have seen questionable advice in this section before but this is ridiculous considering it could help continue our country's legacy of poorly insulated housing stock. 

In the Build Smart section under the How-To article they perpetuate a myth that has possibly plagued millions of houses in our society. The Fiberglass batt is the most common type of insulation in the country. Its bad installation accounts for untold amounts of pollution, excessive energy bills, and home owner discomfort.

The article says: "Be careful not to compress the batts, which can reduce their R-value."

While this is actually a true statement, it is wrong for what we are trying to do, which is insulate the house.

We want to insulate the stud cavity. The more fiberglass batt you stuff in a space, the better insulated it will be. The insulation might lose a small amount of R-value per inch but the overall effect is much better insulation.

The article should have said: "Use batts thicker and wider than the intended cavity to ensure the insulation is compressed and fills as much of the cavity as possible." Or something like that.

To be fair the article was titled "Flash and Batt" which looks at a new way of getting higher performance out of traditional forms of insulation. The article did not however, mention that the system could be used with blown cellulose, a great alternative to batts, Blown-in-blanket (BIB) fiberglass and Open cell foam options that were pictured and discussed.

Production builders are not going to start insulating better until the market (or govt) demands it. Bad information certainly does not help. If you are in the "market", demanding Airtight, Continuous Insulation is probably your best bet at reducing your energy bills and environmental footprint while giving you greater comfort and better control over Indoor Air Quality.