Have been reading about insulation on and off all day but cant decide what product is best to use or who to get to install it. Any advice and/or recommendations gratefully received. We live in central Auckland and have an old wooden bungalow with bare wooden floors. Cheers
lemmem,
May 9, 7:28am
Bare timber floors can become problematic with underfloor insulation, they will eventually dry out and could leave gaps as the timber shrinks. If you read the disclaimer on most insulation supplier websites and even the EECA site you'll see they mention this. Just pointing this out to you now so you can ask the questions when you get people round to quote. I only use Autex Greenstuf which is a polyester based insulation and allows the timber to breathe thus reducing the chance of shrinkage, Using polystyrene is probably the worst to use as this has to be sealed off using sealants and tapes and is also a pain to install in older homes that have uneven joist spacing's. For your ceiling insulation I would go for Wool as its really quick and easy to install and with it being blown in you have less chance of an installer cracking your ceiling by walking over the ceiling joists. Hope this is useful to you
lemming2,
May 10, 7:17pm
Batts did it for us in the ceiling. No problems with installation either. We had Rokwool blown in about 30 years ago when the house was new: after 28 years it had settled a lot, and was no longer cutting it. Batts over the top: brilliant!
annies3,
May 10, 9:48pm
We used polystyrene unfloor no problems no sealing required, tongue and groove flooring is fine, Thick batts in the ceiling and in the walls when the internal lining was updated with Gib, if there is an oportunity, put into the outside walls when weather boards are replaced, otherwise some foam can be forced into the walls, however we have not used this option. No problems here at all and a much warmer home.
thedoth,
May 12, 6:17pm
In older homes the floor joists may not always be evenly spaced. This is a nightmare to fit that useless polystyrene slab sheeting as they are so brittle and wont fit the gaps. Constant trimming. Use batts between the joists and they just push up fit tightly in place. Also use batts in ceiling. Either pink batts or the yellow bradford gold batts are ok. Make sure you have decent drapes and close them earlier in the evening. Alot of heat is lost through glass.
jag5,
May 14, 2:40am
A little known side effect of underfloor insulation of timber floors. the boards dry out with the excessive heat build up and crack. and when they go. what a noise. unbelievable. been- happening with the place we bought a few months ago. Something to be mindful of.
marigold_00,
May 24, 7:34am
The other day a friend trapped a rat in her ceiling, which is insulated with wool. & this got me thinking about vermin nesting - all nice & cosy like! lol. I'm pretty rats & mice don't like the batts because of the glass?
golfaholic2,
May 24, 1:11pm
It might slow them down eating it , but nesting in batts would be no worries for the buggers
trad,
May 24, 3:26pm
I have found a mouse nest in pink batts.
pnp,
May 24, 5:31pm
I had a sales rep drop of a sample last week - Check out Knauf earth woo batts l insulation on the net. Can buy online & apparently cheaper than P/Batts. I also had a house with timber floors a while back & placed batts between the joists, held up with bailer twin stapled to the underside of the joists. Easy to install & stopped the draughts coming up thru the floor. Very noticeable decrease in heat-loss
jelz,
May 25, 12:44am
Hiya Kathee, I also have tongue and groove flooring (matai), I had TerraLanna (sp) installed underfloor at the end of last winter/beginning of spring, what an amazing difference! I haven't had any cracking or noise from the floorboards, definately recommend it :) It's a very hard decision to make when deciding which insulation to use, my advice ask lots of people THEN talk to the experts, as all the experts get paid to sell their product, your friends don't :)
pedro.b,
May 25, 2:38pm
If you want the best use Terra Lana. If you want almost the best but need to save some money use a polyester product like Autex or Insulpro. Don't waste your money on Expol or Pink Batts and especially Earth Wool it's crap.
I install insulation for a living and have done for a quite a while. My business has installed over 200,000sqm. I've used every product made and replaced a lot that wasn't doing it's job for the customer so seriously consider my advise.
vomo2,
May 25, 8:58pm
We had an old cold house and even with batts in the ceiling and expol under the floor it was still cold. Then a year or so later we had the whole house insulated form the outside with Airfoam and 4 years later still love it! The house no longer has that chill it always had!
spongefrisk,
May 25, 11:38pm
Can you explain why the others are crap? They get an R rating so doesn't that show they work? I was under the impression just go for the highest R rating you can afford. Thanks.
mottly,
May 25, 11:42pm
We've just had the green stuff installed over our insulfluff - which after 25 years has finally stopped being effective. The green stuff is govt subsidised, made from recycled milk/coke bottles and guaranteed for 50 years. It also has no 'prickly' stuff like pinkbats - and man, is my house cosy as - no heating yet, it's warm enough :)
geoff_m,
May 26, 2:03pm
I insulated the boy's bedroom last weekend, using Autex Greenstuff, and Pink Batts. The Greenstuff doesn't itch like batts, but it is much, much harder to cut (especially in the long direction of the batt), which makes installation slower. I would hesitate to use it again for any job that needed cutting in. Geoff
pedro.b,
May 26, 5:42pm
Autex, Insulpro and Terra Lana all tear easily in 1 direction (width ways) but won't tear the other way. Cut it either on a hard surface or with tension away from the cut. Once you have used it for a while you work out ways where you don't have to cut it often.
pedro.b,
May 26, 5:44pm
Have a look in ceiling of a house with 10 year old or more pink batts, it compresses to half it's thickness in that time reducing it's R value. You are correct the higher the R value the better, but that doesn't take into consideration its life span. If fiberglass is all you can afford it's better than nothing but if you can afford it, do it once and do it right.
mottly,
May 26, 7:22pm
the guys who installed our 'greenstuff' had no worries cutting it - took them 2 hours to do the ceilings and underfloor. pretty quick imo
bev00,
Jun 25, 5:51am
helpful advice thanks :)
gabbymoggy,
Jun 26, 1:44pm
We had aircell installed underfloor (its insulating and a vapour barrier) It made such a temperature difference, we noticed it right away when we walked in the day they did it (we already had novatherm in the ceiling). We have a combinayion of different flooring, carpet, tile and the original wooden floor boards in the kitchen.
Our house is not as old but we have underfloor 1.8 Insulpro blanket (Novatherm not novafloor which are firmer panels) and blanket 2.8 added in the ceiling over old loose fill. So far very happy. Apparently vermin are not as fond of the polyester fibres in their teeth etc, but no proof of that.
If you want to look at exterior walls, ask your council and do not take advice purely from installers. BRANZ don't recommend blow in options or airfoam, and only very few councils have exceptions allowing external wall insulations to be done without a building permit. It is extemely important you don't inadvertantly trap moisure from escape in exterior walls, or you know what you could be dealing with.
Ceilings and floors are exempt for permits nationwide but still must be up to standard. Also can highly recommend the improvement from a vapour barrier even thou there was no visible moisture under the house. Any musty smell vanished is the downstairs room.
whitewolf001,
Jun 27, 3:22am
+1 for Greenstuf. No horrible itching like pink batts, sustainable product, and no horrible respirable fibres in and around your house.
bev00,
Jun 27, 7:55am
great info here
tweake,
Dec 4, 3:00pm
i see a few comments about people fitting pink batts or other glass wool products underfloor. they are one of the worse products to use. thats simply due to them holding moisture. once they get wet they don't dry out and sitting above a wet aera is not the greatest of places. once damp it looses its insulation value as well.
polystyrene, while a major pain to fit and power cable issues, is more suitable and won't hold moisture. however you can get the big sheets and fit it under the joists rather than inbetween. need to insulated the outside edge and its not quite as energy efficient.
not sure about polyester, i think its listed as water permeable. not sure on its drying ability.
ground sheet is a must. stop the water from evaporating under the house. there is quite a large amount that evaporates and that moves up through the floor. also evaporating water cools the air.
walls, the critical thing is moisture control. if you can't control the moisture then your better off just leaving it alone.
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