You don’t need us to tell you that insulation is integral to an energy-efficient, properly habitable home. And you likely have a gist of what it does. Keeps your cool home cooler and warm home warmer, right? Well, yes, that’s essentially true. But do you know how it works? And better yet, does knowing the why help you specifically?
At Big City Insulation, we feel an informed customer makes a wise customer. Patrons that understand the why are better equipped to know what they need and when they need it. That helps us match your specific and unique needs and helps save you money, time and frustration!
How Home Insulation Works
To understand home insulation, you need to know basics about heat transfer. Without getting too technical (and trust us, it’s easy to get too technical here), we’ll break thermal transfer into three categories: convection, conduction and radiation.
- Conduction is how heat moves “through” materials. Think of it like metal getting hot, or electricity running through a wire. These things conduct thermal energy (heat).
- Convection refers to how heat travels through gases and liquids, and has to do with why warm air rises and cold air sinks (read: the attic is really hot in the summer).
- Radiation, or more accurately, radiant heat takes the shortest path and heats anything in its way. Sunlight is an excellent example of radiant heat.
So, how do these apply to insulation? Well, for the sake of simplicity we’re specifically going to talk about conductive heat, which is what most standard home insulation options reduce (or help prevent).
Whether we’re using batt insulation or blown-in, we aim to reduce and prevent the flow of conductive heat, whether out or in depending on the season and your personal needs. It’s easiest to think of standard insulation as an envelope. Without the envelope, the contents are exposed to outside influence. Meaning if it’s cold outside, the cold will conduct into your home. And without the envelope, your conditioned air will bleed out. Insulation helps stop the flow of heat, keeping warm air inside in the winter and outside in the warmer months.
Top-Quality Insulation Service in Utah With Big City Insulation
Here at Big City Insulation, we offer batt fiberglass, blown-in fiberglass and cellulose for home re-insulation/retrofit projects. Interested in knowing more about insulation and what we can provide? Contact us online today or call 435-215-4127!
