Generally, Cleveland, OH, homeowners strive to maintain optimal temperatures inside their homes all year round. Unfortunately, heat transfers through the roof, walls, floors, and windows result in temperature fluctuations. When this happens, their homes become cold and unbearable during winter and difficult to cool down during sweltering summers.
One solution that can help deal with this problem is thermal insulation, a technique that creates a hospitable indoor environment by curtailing heat loss. Not heard of this solution? Let’s start with the basics.
What Is Thermal Insulation?
Thermal insulation is a way of reducing heat transfer between the inside and outside of a building. It shields your home’s interior from the vagaries of outdoor temperatures that force you to use more energy to heat or cool your home. It also protects your crawl space from humidity, mold, and deterioration that occurs because of heat transfers and vapor condensation.
How Is Thermal Insulation Different from Normal Insulation?
Thermal insulation restricts heat transfer, whereas the standard insulation curtails sound transfer or reverberation. You will find that the materials used for both types of insulation have different resistance value (R-value), which is the measure of how effective the insulation material is to heat. A material with a high R-Value has low thermal conductivity, making it more effective in insulating your home.
Unlike conventional insulation, thermal insulation uses higher density fibrous insulation and other dense materials. It also contains polymer-based materials like glue and rubber, which increase its R-value. Other than its R-value, thermal insulation material like polyurethane is waterproof, fire-resistant and lightweight.
We strongly recommend and use ExTremeBloc™. These rigid insulation panels are made of expanded polystyrene foam that is infused with graphite. Along with resisting water, moisture, and mold, these panels also are treated with a termiticide to deter these pests from attacking this below-grade area. When ExTremeBloc™ is installed, our crew leaves an inspection gap to allow for pest control inspections.
What are the Benefits of Thermal Insulation?
Here’s how you’re going to benefit from insulating your home.
1) Temperature regulation: Thermoregulation helps maintain a constant temperature within a home. This is especially important during extreme seasons like summer and winter. During winter, thermal insulation ensures your home maintains warm or moderate temperatures, which makes life comfortable. In summer, it keeps the rooms cool.
2) Saves energy: Thermal insulation is also essential as it reduces energy consumption. Your crawl space won’t lose heat or gain it through the building’s envelope. By curbing unwanted temperature changes, this mechanism lowers your heating and cooling energy demands and, ultimately, reduces your energy costs.
3) Prevents condensation: Homes with no thermal insulation tend to have condensation issues. This results in unsightly spots appearing on your walls, which are usually a fusion of mold and dust particles. Thermal insulation prevents this phenomenon since the temperatures in your home do not fall below the critical condensation point.
4) Prevents mold and mildew: Mold and mildew thrive in damp spaces. When your walls are not insulated, cold vapor liquidates, causing your area to be moist. Insulating your crawl space deters mold and mildew from growing and colonizing your home.
5) Eco-Friendly: Thermal insulation helps you conserve resources that you would normally use to heat or cool a house in winter or summer. We are talking about naturally occurring resources like fossil fuel and coal that powers many homes and industries. Your home won’t consume a lot of energy, automatically reducing all the pollution associated with generating it.
6) Prolongs the lifespan of your home: Thermal insulation also contributes to a much stronger and more durable building. By reducing heat movement and condensation, thermal insulation prevents mold, freezing, and humidity. This prevents wood decay and corrosion of metallic features, which often weakens the underlying structure.
7) Noise control: A well-insulated crawl space also reduces noise levels by absorbing sounds emitted within the building. This makes it easier for those inside to communicate efficiently.
Does Thermal Insulation Keep Your Crawl Space Dry?
Yes, it does. Thermal insulation not only slows down heat transfer, but it also reduces moisture migration from the outdoor into your crawl space. The degree of dryness depends on the choice of insulation material.
That said, thermal insulation alone will not keep your crawl space dry forever. You’ll need to invest in additional waterproofing measures like interior drainage, a sump pump, dehumidification, and pairing your insulation with a vapor barrier.
Need help insulating your crawl space? Contact your local crawl space experts at Ohio Basement Systems to take advantage of a free crawl space inspection and estimate to seal up the crawl space of your Cleveland, OH, home.
