When John and Anne Bowling
retired to the Roanoke, Virginia area from Memphis,
Tennessee in 1997, they brought with them an
insulation idea popular in Memphis: Spray inplace
Polyurethane
Foam Insulation. The Bowlings specified
the All Tech Insulation System to insulate and
reduce air infiltration in their new home. "Spray
foam insulation is very common in Memphis," says
John Bowling, "and our house plans were drawn up
that way." The Bowlings contacted North Carolina
Foam Industries to recommend a spray foam
applicator. "The installation went great. The
applicators were very professional and finished the
complete job in less than a day. I think it's great,
I didn't know they could spray it that quick,"
continues Bowling.
All Tech Insulation System
is sprayed on as a liquid which immediately foams
and rises in place to fill and seal all the cracks
and crevices in the stud wall cavity. In this
manner, air leaks and
air infiltration are virtually
eliminated. The
foam also provides excellent
insulation. "With the 21/2-inch thickness with
in our walls, we're getting an
R-Value of over 16,"
says Bowling.
Spray in
place Polyurethane foam has been in use since 1967. The
combined features of full adhesion,
sealing,
strength,
and insulation make it the material of choice for a
variety of applications including insulating the fuel
tanks on NASA's space shuttles.
Poly
Urethane spray foam's use in new
residential
construction has recently skyrocketed due to
increasing consumer awareness.
"As I looked
at it," says Bowling, "our energy efficient house will
pay for this, especially in this climate with its strong
winds. It'll keep our energy bills low."
And indeed it has. The Bowling's home is a 2,240 square-foot
ranch heated with liquid propane gas. The low fuel
consumption of the Bowling home recently attracted the
attention of the Highland Propane Company, the local propane
supplier. Between August 2000 and July 2001, the Highland
Propane Company delivered 321 gallons of propane to the
Bowling house.
For comparison, gas deliveries to ten similar homes, in the
Roanoke area, insulated with conventional materials were
examined. After adjustments for appliance differences, the
gas deliveries varied between 456 gallons and 1230 gallons
and averaged 769 gallons for the same one year period.
Based on this comparison,
the Bowlings are using 42% of the propane used by their
neighbors.
The actual savings and the
payback period depend, of course, on the price the
Bowlings pay for propane. The price of propane varies
from season to season and year to year. Table 1
illustrates the annual savings and the payback period
the Bowlings should expect based on the various prices
of propane.
(The payback period is based on an estimate that the
spray foam insulation costs $1,500 more than
conventional insulation would have cost.)
In addition to high
R-value,
spray foam insulation is an extremely efficient
insulation because it is:
Closed Cell: Air can
not flow through the insulation.
Fully Adhered: Air cannot bypass the insulation.
While
Polyurethane spray foam insulation has a very high
R-value,
R-value is not the only
factor
affecting insulation efficiency. Homes insulated
with All Tech Insulation System will consistently
outperform homes insulated with glass fiber batts, even
with equal R-values on the walls. The reason is
air
flow. When the wind blows, the thermal efficiency of
glass fiber batts plummets. Costly house wraps, with
their seams and imperfections, cannot compensate for
this loss in efficiency.
With All Tech Insulation System, high thermal efficiency is
maintained, regardless of the weather, and house wraps
are not needed.
Conserving energy reduces fossil fuel consumption and
the attendant pollution. Building your home to be
comfortable to your family and friendly to the
environment will actually pay for itself and save you
money as long as you live in your house.
Contact an All Tech Insulation
engineer today (989-826-9999) for a deeper discussion
about your insulation requirements.
