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Att: Eve - any further thoughts/decisions on insulation

  • 19-10-2005 1:37pm
    #1
    Builderwoman!
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 578 ✭✭✭


    Hi Eve,

    Hope build is going well. Any further decisions or thoughts on insulation? We met the rep from IDL on Monday and he gave some good suggestions including using Xfoil rather than Actis. He did not talk about the knauf products at all. Got a number from our local building providers rep today for Hitherm rep so I have to call him too. Just wondering are you, like me, still researching? Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks


Comments

  • #2
    patrido
    Closed Accounts Posts: 299 ✭✭patrido


    Hi builderwoman... who makes xfoil? i can't seem to find any information on it. Do you have any prices for it, or actis?

    since your original post i've been thinking about using foil insulation in my build, so i've been doing some research on foil insulation and it seems to be quite controversial.

    the claim is that 1 inch of actis is equivalent to 8 inches of fibreglass or an r-value of 5 m2K/W, by blocking radiant or infra red heat, which the manufacturers claim traditional insulation doesn't deal with.

    however, there have been some legal cases where customers have found the performance to be a lot less than expected. this was apparently due to the product being used "slightly incorrectly". some say that these cases are due to poor standards of installation. either way it might be worthwhile keeping a very close eye on whoever is installing it, so that standards are strictly adhered to.

    the traditional insulation manufacturers say that when the foil manufacturers claim an r value of 5, they are not comparing like with like... the tests they use were not the industry standard tests, which are used to test the performance of the traditional products. celotex in the uk comissioned an "independent" study, which found that the r-value was more like 1.7 m2K/W or less. the canadian govt found similar results. it also seems that the use of air cavities is important, and without them, the r value is as low as 1.0 m2K/W.

    one this that does not seem to be disputed, is that the foil insulation helps improve the air tightness, i.e. stops air infiltration. while this does not contribute to u-value, it will help stop heat loss. interestingly, one us manufacturer recommends installing foil in addition to mass insulation, to get the benefits of both.


  • #3
    Eve1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 97 ✭✭Eve1


    Hi Builder woman,
    We still have to get back to the sales guy about our insulation, he wants to talk to the ufh guy first. They lost all our plans etc so it has taken longer than we expected to get to meet with them. I am doing exams at the mo so I handed over the reins for a while, needless to say not much was done. We did order our windows a few weeks ago though, we went wih Marvin alu-clad. Talk about going over budget! Build is starting on Monday, yippee!!! so the research is full steam ahead now.

    Thanks for the info on the Actis Patrido, I must look into it. I also heard that the foil can begin to disintigrate, could that be true?


  • #4
    patrido
    Closed Accounts Posts: 299 ✭✭patrido


    i haven't heard anything about disintegration, but i think i mentioned here before that there is a suggestion that the reflectiveness of the foil will degrade over time.

    foil based insulation works by reflecting radiant (or infra red) heat back in to the house (or outwards in summer). this would seem to imply that the effectiveness of the insulation will reduce if it loses it's shinyness.


  • #5
    Builderwoman!
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 578 ✭✭✭Builderwoman!


    Thanks a million Patrido and Eve. Great to talk to others about products. Well done on all your research Patrido. We had heard that Actis was the business...must check if they have an agrement cert?....and then we heard from Insulation Distributers Ltd that Xfoil was way better. Now I am beginning to doubt both. Talked to Hitherm the other day and they too rubbished the foil systems (they don't do one) and you begin to wonder who to listen to after a while?!! These sales guys are very enthusiastic understandably about their own products and sometimes wrongly put you off others just because they don't sell them. I looked at the study and really have second thoughts now. Will get the rep to give me more details on the Xfoil (he said he'd send me a brochure but haven't got it yet) and I'll post back here to let you know what else we discover about it. Thanks again.


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