What Type of Insulation Should You Use?

For every application from roof to sub-slab, here's how to select the right insulation products for your project.

Table of Contents

BuildingGreen member price:$99
non-member price: $129

The BuildingGreen Guide to Insulation Products and Practices comes with BuildingGreen's 100% money-back guarantee: If it doesn't save you  many hours of insulation research, we'll cheerfully refund its modest price.

 

When it comes to enhancing building energy performance, insulation is the lowest-hanging fruit available. Yet no other building element offers so much potential for confusion and costly mistakes.

The BuildingGreen Guide to Insulation Products and Practices provides accurate, non-biased guidance on how to choose from among the full range of insulation materials in use today. In 81 tightly focused pages, you'll get the full story:

Insulation Fundamentals

  • how insulation works and why certain materials make more sense than others in particular applications
  • how insulation performance is measured and reported
  • the range of environmental considerations that come into play with different insulation materials

Properties of Every Major Type of Insulation Material

  • what's in them
  • how they perform relative to R-value, permeability, and moisture resistance
  • environmental pros and cons
  • where they should be used in buildings
  • how costs compare
  • the special concerns you should watch out for

The Industry's Most Valuable Chart for Guiding Insulation Choices

  • guidance for every major application: residential or commercial, interior and exterior sheathing and foundation walls, and from roof to sub-slab
  • BuildingGreen's Top Pick for each application
  • When and why to consider a material other than BuildingGreen's top recommendation
  • environmental and health considerations for each material
  • performance and cost issues

This go-to source for everything a design professional needs to know about insulation materials costs less than the price of 100 square feet of R-19 fiberglass batts. Yet you'll find it applicable and essential for every building project you undertake.