Insulation is used to help prevent heat from entering or escaping your home. In the winter, insulation helps to keep your house warm, and in the summer it helps keep your house cool if you use an air conditioner. Insulation is not put into the walls in the middle of your house since it doesn’t matter much if you lose heat from one room to another. Where it does matter though is in exterior insulation, the walls exposed to the elements.
The most common kind of exterior insulation is fiberglass. First invented in the 1930’s fiberglass insulation is composed of many bundles of glass fibers. Fiberglass insulation replaced asbestos insulation which was commonly used previously. While asbestos is a great insulator, sometimes even superior to fiberglass, it is extremely dangerous and frequently causes an often incurable and deadly lung disease called mesothelioma.
One of the most important factors when it comes to exterior insulation is how well it can restrict the flow of heat. Many types of insulation operate by creating many small pockets of air which heat has a difficult time flowing through. Other things you’ll want to consider when picking insulation is how susceptible it is to water. Fiberglass insulation is not damaged by water. Aside from that you’ll also want to consider the ease of installation and any kind of maintenance that would be required. Once again fiberglass is popular here because you can simply unroll it to install it and it requires zero maintenance.
Aside from protecting your home from heat loss, insulation also helps to insulate your home from any loud noises outside that might disturb you while you are in your home. Some types of insulation can even help serve as a firewall to help slow the spread of fires.
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