Ideal for new build.. |
"Build Tight - Ventilate Right" is the mantra of the Energy Saving Trust. The problem is making a property airtight requires attention to detail that's missing on most building sites. Airtightness, cold bridging and vapour diffusion are alien concepts to many time-served builders who aren't used to precision engineering. Fortunately, expanding foams make it easy to achieve airtightness without interstitial condensation risks, meaning builders can concentrate on what they do best.
|
Modern spray-applied expanding foam insulation is quite simply the best way to insulate a domestic or commercial property. Nothing else seals the gaps to provide breathable, vapour-open building fabric with airtightness through the whole roof or wall assembly. Achieve air permeability below 3.0 m3/hr/m2 without needing VCL's, air barrier membranes or tapes in half the time it takes to fit regular insulation. Options include:
Flexible Open-Cell Spray Foam to provide sound-deadening airtight insulation for timber-frame roofs, walls, studs and suspended floors
Rigid Closed-Cell Spray Foam for masonry walls, beam & block floors and structural steels where cold bridging can be catestrophic.
Pour-fill Expanding foam to inject into new and existing masonry wall cavities to seal tight up against window and door frames. This is the only product that works in narrower cavities on older properties.
If your priority is to stop heat escaping rather than simply meeting Building Regulations for the minimum cost, modern spray or injection foam avoids the insulation performance gap you always get with insulated boards, multi-foil, mineral wool and natural fibre insulation.
Airtight properties are low energy properties, but you can't have airtightness without effective ventilation. Traditional ventilation requires holes in every window frame, so even if you pass the (now) mandatory air pressure test, you won't be airtight when the tester peels the tape of the window vents before they leave. To complement your airtight property you need balanced supply/extract ventilation with heat recovery.