What is the right amount of insulation for a house?
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What is the right amount of insulation for a house?
Ryan Gerbrandt
Feb. 11, 2019Last updated: Aug. 3, 2020
I'm looking to build a small single level passive solar orientated house with double walls or Larson truss (either would have dense pack cellulose) on a slab foundation with radiant in floor heat. I saw a post with a chart showing code built, better insulated and super insulated. The chart showed monthly payments (mortgage and untilities) and the better insulated home had monthly savings over the code built house while the super insulated house cost more per month due to the added up front building cost. I'd like to aim for the better built house with instant payback but how do I determine how much insualtion to use? EPS under slab and on side, dense pack cellulose in walls and loose pack cellulose in ceiling. Thanks.
What you are referring to is often called the ‘sweet spot’ in home design forchoosing the right amount of insulation.
To determine the ideal envelope to a reasonable a degree of accuracy you would need to hire a designer who is able to doenergy modelling, and finding aPassive House designerwould be wise if you want to pursue that route. The only problem with that, is that the cost of the designer could eat into the budget and render you less able to achieve the ideal performance goals. There's a catch 22 for ya! And we have exactly the place for you to start, it's a Passive House that I was involved wi in the design phase and it includes dense packed cellulose in Larsen trusses exactly like you are considering, here's a link -
How to Build Double-Stud Larsen Truss Walls on a Passive House
Beyond such modelling, if you tell us the location where you are building, we can perhaps offer you some general guide lines for insulation levels. Best practices for insulating would be very different for example between Southern Ontario and Nothern Ontario.
You may have seen this, but here is a video of ourpassively heated Edelweiss Demonstration housethat covers the basic principles of passive heating and cooling concept and design.
你好，谢谢你的回复。我和温尼伯的Sun Certified Builders谈过一点……考虑花钱让他们为我做一些能源模型。我将建在摩登市外，MB市，曼尼托巴省中南部。我倾向于EPS的R-30到R-36，在平板下面和侧面/踢脚板上。倾向于一个12英寸的双2x4螺柱墙与密集的包，这应该给我周围的R-48在墙上。考虑在桁架空间中放入约R-60的松散填充纤维素。我希望我能把钱花在Duxton或Kohltech的门窗上。电锅炉用于地板辐射热和有效的HRV，我能找到一个合理的价格。我读到过，ERV刚出来的时候在寒冷的天气里名声不好，但现在可能比HRV好……有什么想法? I'm leaning towards a floor plan I drew up that is around 28'x35' with the long side facing south. Plenty of windows on the south with none on the north and only one on the west for cross ventilation. Monoslope roof climbing south with a large overhang to have a roof over the patio on the south side. I know someone locally that can draw the house to show where the sun will hit throughout the year so I can block the summer sun from hitting the windows on the south side. Sorry for the information overload but any advise would be greatly appreciated! Looking for that sweet spot!!
乐意帮助!马尼托巴的冬天不乱，但显然你也不乱，这是一个很好的信封，你已经铺开了。在南面进行被动集热是个好主意，限制北面的窗户也不错，只要你不会觉得自己在地堡里。Your design sounds similar to ourEdelweiss House, we did include a few small windows on the north just to have a bit of light in the bedroom and bathroom at the back.
I don’t want to steer you away from energy modelling, but at a cursory glance here are some thoughts –
Your slab insulation sounds pretty good, I doubt you need to go much more than that though. 9 inches of EPS is about R36, that will serve you well. Make sure than when you’re getting the slab designed to insulate below the footing. We’re building another demo house right now that will have asolar-air heated floorbuilt from a kit product that has continuous insulation underneath. There are times when insulation below the footings gets omitted, that would quickly become the weak spot in your home if you didn’t insulate them well.
Koltech have certified Passive House windows, not sure about the other company, but just make sure they build quality products and offer triple-pane and gas filled interiors. Ask either window manufacturer about options for low-e coatings (see links below); ours were done differently on the south than the north which meant the south ones lost a bit more heat at night but gained a whole lot more in the day.
而且因为你要用纤维素记住它是相对便宜的，所以当它涉及到天花板，我可能会考虑加强它一点。无论如何，你会在那里吹进去，所以再多几英寸，把它提高到R70或80是个不错的主意。
One last point in terms of durability - make sure the wall assembly is done with a proper air barrier and vapour control layer. If you do go for modelling then that company or person should be well-versed in building science.
这里有一些链接，可以帮助你做出一些选择，特别是选择你的窗户和通风系统。好运！
太棒了,谢谢!