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Insulation Question

Kungur
Kungur Member Posts: 49
I am getting ready to do a staple up install and have a question about the best insulation system to use. Is fiberglass installed tight? wiith an air space? What  R value? Or is foil/bubble insulation worth considering.

Thanks

Comments

  • Mark Eatherton
    Mark Eatherton Member Posts: 5,853
    I only did staple up once....

    and that was on my own house. I'd never do it on a customers home. I always use plates if I have no option but to come in from below.



    If you are doing true "staple up" or bare naked tubing as my friends in the mountains call it, yes, you have to have an air gap between the tube and the face of the insulation. It is normally recommended that the insulation have a foil face on it to reflect radiant energy upward, but unless you can guarantee a dust free cavity joist bay, save the aluminum for something more useful, like beer cans. :-)



    The rule of thumb is 2 times the R value below the tube as above the tube. Fiber glass works great. Bubble foil bubble is a waste of time and resources. Don't forget to block off the individual zones shared by a common joist bay or the heat may not go where you want it to. Also, don't forget to insulate the exterior rim joists. Use rigid foam to accomplish these feats.



    If you are using plates, then you do not want an air gap because you are depending upon heat transfer from conduction only.



    In the case of truly naked tube, you are depending on all three heat transfer mechanisms, and if you disable any of them, your occupants will not be comfortable and their utility bills will be high. In other words, the air gap HAS to be there, because if you push the insulation up tight to the tube, you've quashed the convective and radiant potential. The conductive potential is minimal at best due to the lack of surface contact between the round tube and a flat sub floor.



    HTH



    ME
    It's not so much a case of "You got what you paid for", as it is a matter of "You DIDN'T get what you DIDN'T pay for, and you're NOT going to get what you thought you were in the way of comfort". Borrowed from Heatboy.
  • Kungur
    Kungur Member Posts: 49
    Insulation Question

    I should have been more clear. When I said staple up I meant that I will be using transfer plates and stapling them up. Sorry.

    So 2 x the R below as above?
  • Mark Eatherton
    Mark Eatherton Member Posts: 5,853
    YUP....

    Same 2 X factor applies.





    ME
    It's not so much a case of "You got what you paid for", as it is a matter of "You DIDN'T get what you DIDN'T pay for, and you're NOT going to get what you thought you were in the way of comfort". Borrowed from Heatboy.
  • Simply Rad
    Simply Rad Member Posts: 184
    Naked Staple up

    That would be us, them tree hugging mountain folk.  ME at one point I was going to make some stickers  "stop the brutal staple up"  For a while up here there was an anti-marketing group that made sticker "stop the brutal marketing"  that turned into "stop the brutal grooming"  Maybe I should us the KISS method and use "staple up sucks".  Maybe during these slow times I should make some up and pass them out to EVERYONE at the supply house.  



    Keep up the good work ME



    Jeffrey
    Jeffrey Campbell
  • Mark Eatherton
    Mark Eatherton Member Posts: 5,853
    That's why I like you mountain folk...

    Brutally honest, to the point, and no BS :-)



    ME
    It's not so much a case of "You got what you paid for", as it is a matter of "You DIDN'T get what you DIDN'T pay for, and you're NOT going to get what you thought you were in the way of comfort". Borrowed from Heatboy.
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