Conceivably, you have just completed building your home, and you want to insulate it, or maybe you want to insulate your old home to enhance its energy efficiency.
If you are reading this Insulation Wholesale post, undoubtedly, you want to know more about insulation and probably how it works.
In this write-up, we will dig deeper into what is insulation, what it entails and how it works to protect your home and keep it comfy throughout the year.
What is Insulation?
In a layman’s language, insulation is a material utilised in filling the spaces (including crevices, splints, gaps, and hard-to-reach areas e.g. above ceilings and behind walls) of your house to minimise the flow of heat by absorption and/reflection.
How Insulation Works?
We all agree that excellent thermal insulation of a house contributes significantly towards the comfort as well as energy consumption. This ultimately leads to reduced monthly utility bills. However, it is not all about these two words; thermal insulation.
Various concepts come into play. To understand the principle of insulation, one must understand the processes involved in heat transfer.
Heat Transfer
The ultimate goal of thermal insulation is to maintain an optimal and comfortable temperature in the house by preventing heat transference between indoor and outdoor climate. Take, for example, during the cold winter; hot air is prevented from escaping to the outside. However, in hot summer, outside heat is prevented from getting inside the house, hence keeping the house cool.
As such thermal insulation is meant to keep in check various components of heat transfer which include:
Conduction
This is heat transfer through matter, meant to equalise temperature differences. Some materials are excellent conductors of heat, while others are poor. For instance, a metal bar ‘feels’ cold while a wooden one ‘feels’ warm. This can be explained by their heat conductivity affinity where metal is an excellent conductor of heat while wood isn’t.
Convection
Convection takes place when there is heat transfer through a liquid or gas where hot particles move in circular motion replacing the colder areas. Technically, water or air close to the source of heat gets heated and becomes less dense and rises. This difference in densities makes the cooler fluid to move and replace the hot liquid. The process continues creating a convection current.
Radiation
This is heat transmittance by electromagnetic radiation. The sun is a good example of objects that produce radiant heat. Shiny materials are excellent radiant barriers since they reflect radiation. However, dull and black objects absorb the heat. Depending on the season, one can choose which material to use in the windows, doors or even the roof to achieve optimal insulation.
Conclusion
Those are the key concepts behind the insulation. Now, your goal when building/renovating your home is to use the right materials that resist heat transfer.