Five Reasons Why a New Ceiling Insulation is Needed
Insulation Contractor

The Five Reasons Why a New Ceiling Insulation is Needed

15th Mar 2021
  1. Ceiling insulation insulates the house and allows for less heat to be lost through the roof of your home to the outside environment (weather).
  2. Ceiling insulation reduces the humidity levels indoors. Since it’s made of a special material (ceramic) the humidity in the living space will be kept low and the humidity in the air will be kept high. This will reduce the condensation levels which in turn will reduce humidity levels and the risk of the bacteria or mold growth that causes health concerns and can cause damage to your ceilings (especially if there are areas that are not insulated with a reflective material).
  3. Ceiling insulation provides a level of protection against future roof maintenance issues. Since the insulation will prevent the heat from going through your roof this also protects your home from further damage due to roof leaks (which are very common in homes in the US).
  4. The insulation material used in your ceiling insulation should help reduce the risk of the material getting sick or failing in the future. The insulation is usually a porous material that allows any dirt or dust to enter the material if it is not installed correctly thereby reducing the life of the insulation material.
  5. Ceiling insulation will also help to keep the area cooler as it traps more heat. This in turn makes your house cooler which will make you feel more comfortable and this will reduce the risk of illness as you can clearly feel the difference.

These are the five main reasons that you should install ceiling insulation in your home.

These are some of the main reasons why the insulation should be put in your home.

Installing the product is easy.

The product should be placed directly to the edge of a ceiling joist (the metal vertical supports inside your ceilings) to be insulated, the product should be aligned perfectly to a joist edge by a millimeter, and a joist’s edge should be perfectly flush with the edge of the ceiling joist (with a precision of a half of a millimeter). Once it’s done, you should see a new layer of foam or expanding foam being laid down (usually on top of the old layer).

The product has very little to no installation.

It is very low-cost to install. The product costs around $20-25 US dollars (depending on the quality of the product), and the installation should take around 30 minutes.

The finished product should be as smooth as glass.

If the ceiling insulation has a scratch or flaw in it, you should remove it before installing the next layer of product. This is because the product can show dust and lint when it’s being installed. If you see a scratch in the insulation, you shouldn’t put any more product on until you get a certified insulation technician to install your new thermal block insulation in your home.

The material is easily removable so you won’t spend a lot of time cleaning.

The thermal insulation is very easy to remove, even at high temperatures. All you need is a screwdriver (or a chisel if it’s bigger) and it can be removed just as easily as it was put in. If you see dust or lint stuck under the insulation, you should remove it as soon as possible to prevent fire.

These are the main reasons why new ceiling insulation is required. There are many others like them, but these are the most common.

Heat Supply Insulation in New Houses. male-contractor-installs-metal-pipe-system-in-attic
Roof Insulation

Heat Supply Insulation in New Houses

15th Mar 2021

The first thing you should do is to check the standard of insulation in your existing house. It does not mean your insulation is still bad, it does simply mean there is not enough insulation in your house, or it has been removed, therefore, there is a high requirement to install the insulation in your existing house.

You can find out what insulation is and what is not suitable for your existing house by inspecting the ceiling insulation, the wall insulation or the attic insulation.

When inspecting your ceiling insulation, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that the standard of insulation in most homes is good. However, as we all know, it is not always possible to replace the insulation in all cases. In these cases, installing a higher quality alternative is needed. When it comes to attic insulation, you will learn that the current insulation is not sufficient and needs a lot of help in order to keep your heat in.

What you will do, is, look for an energy-efficient material that is not harmful to people’s lungs. The material must not let out moisture or let it into the air where dust particles are gathered. The best material is a material that is a good conductor of heat and not conductive of heat. When you are purchasing the material, make sure that it is non-permeable which is why in a new house, if you can see through the ceiling insulation, so is the heat conductor. In this case, the insulation could be removed and replaced with new material so that there is a proper heat barrier. You should always install the new insulation, in cases where there is a significant improvement in the insulation, even if only a third or less of the insulation is replaced. In many cases, you may not need to replace the current insulation.

This is because in installing the insulation, the quality of the new insulation can be greatly affected by the quality of the existing insulation.

It will be better if there is a large amount of air space. When a person sits in a house and is hot and stuffy, it can be because most people do not insulate their house properly. The other fact is, when the insulation is damaged, the material can not be replaced.

This would be why the best material is a material that does not need to be cut into small strips to be attached to the ceiling or walls. In this case, it might be difficult to see through the insulation, in which case you would be better off making an insulator that you can see through. When you make an insulator that does not need to be cut to size, you will be able to save more. It is important not to over bundle the insulation when you insulate. This is why a material that is not cut into strips can be a great choice for your heating and cooling needs.

In the majority of cases, when there is air space, it will be because there is more insulation than what has been installed. Also, the thickness of the current insulation is usually thinner than the insulation needed to cover the entire room, and this means there may be gaps when the insulation should be installed perfectly close together.

If you want to ensure that you are getting the best value, you will benefit from making sure there are no gaps in the insulation as well as the thermal insulation of the walls and ceiling. This is why having the insulation double-checked by experienced professionals, is a good idea. This is the only way you will be able to be sure the insulation has been installed correctly.

EnergyWeb - Green Office Thermal Insulation Installation
Insulation Contractor Roof Insulation Roofing Service

Green Office Goals

29th Sep 2020

Do you work in a green office?

No, we aren’t asking if you’re surrounded by forest-painted walls all day (although the colour green has been shown to be associated with tranquillity and improved reading ability. You might want to check out this option as well!).

Instead, we’re asking this: How sustainable is the office building that you work in? Is it a green office? Spoiler alert: if you aren’t using EnergyWeb’s insulated HVAC ducting, it’s not sustainable enough!

We love air conditioning!

Air conditioning is a wonderful thing. In the middle of a South African summer, carefully regulated indoor temperatures are vital. We struggle to be productive without them!

However, air conditioning has environmental and financial costs. Are these costs worth it?

The same applies to heating systems in winter. Have you ever tried to type an email with “frozen fingers” on a morning in the middle of July? Cranking up the building temperature definitely helps to warm up and get through that to-do list more effectively.
Room temperature in an office building can affect productivity, creativity and the ability of co-workers to collaborate. It is definitely a factor to consider when designing office buildings.

But what is this temperature regulation costing companies, and the Earth? And how is it affecting sustainability in business?

With EnergyWeb’s products, you can rest assured that temperature regulation is both effective AND sustainable. You CAN work in a green office and still have an HVAC system!

Why do buildings have HVAC systems?

HVAC stands for heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Even though we often interchange the term with ‘air conditioning’ (which is just a cooling system), an HVAC system heats, ventilates and cools buildings throughout the year.

HVAC systems are thus used to heat or cool buildings (both residential and commercial) to maintain a constant temperature inside the building. The system supplies indoor rooms with fresh outdoor air. Additionally, it filters moisture, smoke, odors, heat, dust, airborne bacteria, carbon dioxide, and other gases from the air before pumping it into rooms inside buildings.

In other words, HVAC systems are great. The question is: could they be even better? At EnergyWeb, we believe so!

Energy losses in HVAC systems

HVAC systems work by distributing either cooled or heated air throughout buildings via a system of ducts. Air conditioning companies typically install these ducts above the ceiling.

Is your roof insulated? Find out more about the benefits of roof-ceiling insulation here.
Based on South African building standards, air conditioning companies usually fit insulated ducting into the system. The industry norm is thus to install thin polyester film ducting tubes.

Unfortunately, this thin film does not sufficiently prevent cooling or heating of air as it moves through the ducting system. In other words, heated air cools down again as it moves through the ducts, while cooled air is heated by the surrounding air in the ceiling. This means that a large percentage of energy used to heat or cool the air before distributing it throughout the building is wasted.

This energy loss wastes electricity. This has two main negative effects:

  1. Financial

Wasted electricity wastes money. By reducing energy loss via ducting tubes in HVAC systems, this money could be saved.

  1. Environmental

If cooled air heats up, or heated air cools down, as it moves through the HVAC ducts, you use more electricity to maintain constant temperatures in the building. Since South Africa currently generates 93% of its electricity by burning coal, any increased electricity usage increases coal combustion.

Burning coal produces carbon dioxide, a gas which contributes to the greenhouse effect and global warming. Burning more coal thus has significant negative effects on the environment.

In other words, using HVAC systems can result in a not-so-green office.

Go green: use EnergyWeb

Most South African buildings include insulated HVAC ducting to increase energy efficiency and financial return. However, insulation is not maximized.

This is where EnergyWeb comes in. We have a unique capacity to laminate foil onto fibre from 40mm up to a 150mm thickness. We do this in real-time and via a very cost-effective process to supply insulated ducting material at a very cost-efficient price.

By improving the insulation of these ducts, heated or cooled air will maintain its temperature better. Therefore the system uses less electricity to heat or cool the air.

Therefore, EnergyWeb’s insulated ducts have the following benefits:

  • Affordability of production and installation (reduced initial costs)
  • Reduced electricity costs after ducting installation (reduced running costs)
  • Reduced energy loss (improved sustainability and a green office)

So, go green, smash your company’s sustainability development goals AND save money? What are you waiting for?

Contact us today to find out more about running a green office.