DIY Insulation Do’s and Don’ts, Tips to Warm Your Home

A few DIY tips on insu­la­tion mate­rials and things you should and should not do when insu­lating your home.

There are several types of home insu­la­tion and different appli­ca­tions for each. I will cover the different types and uses for each and offer a few tips to help keep your house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

The most popular and widely used type of insu­la­tion is fiber­glass — which is actu­ally made from spun glass. Fiber­glass insu­la­tion is typi­cally used to insu­late floors, walls, ceil­ings and attics. It comes faced (paper backed) and un-faced, in various widths and R-values.

R-value is simply the measure of thermal resis­tance (how much the insu­la­tion slows the transfer of warm air to cold air). So the higher the R-value the more resis­tance the insu­la­tion offers. Learn more about R-value.

There are many other types of insu­la­tion such as;

  • Rigid foam (extruded poly­styrene), used primarily for exte­rior applications.
  • Cellu­lose (made from recy­cled paper), used for insu­lating walls, ceil­ings, attics and floors.
  • Radiant barriers (closed cell foam faced on both sides with foil) use for insu­lating floors, walls, ceil­ings, attics, garage doors, water heaters and metal commer­cial build­ings, and
  • Spray foam (a two-part liquid containing a polymer and a foaming agent) used for insu­lating walls, ceil­ings and other inte­rior closed spaces.

These prod­ucts all have different R-values, mate­rial cost and instal­la­tion cost.

Do it Your­self Insu­lating Do’s and Don’ts.

  • Do not crush or stuff fiber­glass insu­la­tion into a space. Crushing the insu­la­tion reduces the effec­tive­ness of the product. More in a space is not better.
  • Do wear a mask and protec­tive clothing when working with fiber­glass insu­la­tion. Who wants to breath spun glass into their lungs.
  • Do not block soffit and gable vents when initially insu­lating or adding insu­la­tion to your attic. Good air flow is crit­ical to preventing conden­sa­tion. Condensation/moisture will ruin most insu­la­tion and create an envi­ron­ment for mold to take hold.
  • Do install a mois­ture barrier (plastic/polyethylene) over your insu­lated walls and seal (tape) all seams as well as the top and bottom of the walls. This will help insure that there is less transfer of warm air to the cold air, thus virtu­ally elim­i­nating condensation.
  • Do not dispose of any insu­la­tion by burning. Burning insu­la­tion is toxic, harmful to you and the envi­ron­ment. You can easily dispose of the extra or old insu­la­tion by placing it in plastic bags and taking it to your local refuse disposal station (dump).
  • Do use radiant barriers to insu­late the inside of your garage door and around your water heater. This is a great way to save energy and it is quite inex­pen­sive. Radiant barriers are less expen­sive than rigid insu­la­tion, are far more effec­tive and easier to use. Radiant barriers are also fantastic for use as a mois­ture barrier/underlayment for lami­nate floors over concrete. Since the radiant barrier acts as a thermal break the cold and mois­ture can not move from the concrete up through the flooring. It also adds just a bit of cushion to the floor for comfort, (as it is only 1/4″ thick).

Follow these do-it-yourself insu­la­tion tips and you will truly succeed with speed.

If you have ques­tions about your DIY projects, just ask your personal DIY consul­tant. I’m here to help you.

Print Friendly and PDFPrintPrint Friendly and PDFPDF

Thanks again,

Your DIY Answer Guy.
For more DIY tips, follow me on twitter here

DIY Help Category Heating & Air
Related Topics: , , ,

Further Reading:

  1. 001 Guy

    Thanks for the tips. Will defi­nitely come in handy with cold weather coming in. I’m specif­i­cally inter­ested in installing a radiant barrier.

    November 7th, 2008
  2. 002 DIY answer guy

    Is there a problem with spray foaming the under­side of your crawl­space? Like if leaks happen or mois­ture getting trapped, or termites living above the foam. What is your thoughts on how the spray foam would work on a resi­den­tial level?

    January 14th, 2009
  3. 003 DIY Answer Guy

    Nave­dave,
    Spray foam is a very effec­tive insu­lator but I would not recom­mend using it in areas where you would be covering up plumbing. Once applied the foam is diffi­cult and time consuming to remove.

    I would recom­mend treating the crawl space for termites prior to insu­lating. Then to reduce mois­ture prob­lems install a good quality vapor barrier on the ground.

    I recom­mend using a radiant barrier installed on the under­side of the floor covered by faced fiber­glass insu­la­tion. This will give you an excel­lent R-value and easy access to any plumbing etc. in the future.

    Quick DIY Tip; After installing the fiber­glass insu­la­tion, use a perma­nent marker to make notes (on the fiber­glass facing) of any plumbing or other util­i­ties that are in the specific bays.

    Thanks for your ques­tions.
    I’m here to help you.

    January 14th, 2009
  4. 004 google

    I want to install lamnant flooring over concrete and im concerned about cold trans­fering to the lamnant we have carpeting now and its warm but we really want lamnant can we install rigid insu­la­tion between the two?

    March 16th, 2009
  5. 005 DIY Answer Guy

    Thanks for the ques­tion Judy, and for drop­ping by.

    I had the same situ­a­tion in my home not to long ago and found that
    using a radiant barrier between the concrete slab and the lami­nate
    flooring works best.

    This Prodex radiant barrier is only 1/4″ inch thick and acts as a mois­ture barrier,
    thermal break, and a bit of cushion when walking on the floor.
    It installs with just a utility knife and some foil tape. No adhe­sives required, as it
    floats on the floor just like the flooring.

    You can purchase the Prodex radiant barrier at Insulation4less.com.
    Be sure to buy Prodex as it has a closed cell foam center rather
    than the bubble wrap type.

    Also, be sure to tape the seams with foil tape (buy at your local home center).
    Remember, DO NOT overlap the seams, just butt them together so you have a
    nice smooth surface to install the flooring over.
    Once you have the product in hand, how-to butt the seams will make perfect sense.

    Also be sure to clean the floor well, prior to installation.

    I hope this answers your ques­tion.
    Thanks again.
    Larry
    Your DIY Answer Guy

    PS; Please, let me know if you have any further ques­tions,
    and how things come out, as I love to hear about your successes.

    March 16th, 2009
  6. 006 Yahoo

    We just tore out a bathtub and drywall. Is it OK to install paper faced insu­la­tion next to the hot water pipes of the shower? Thanks.

    October 4th, 2010
  7. 007 DIY Answer Guy

    Yes it is OK to install the insu­la­tion next to the water pipes. If fact some people install foam insu­la­tion on their hot water pipes prior to insu­lating with fiber­glass. Good luck on your project and let me know if you need anything else. Take care.

    October 4th, 2010
  8. 008 google

    How do you insu­late a lightswitch when you feel cold air coming out of it

    December 14th, 2010
  9. 009 diy

    Thinking of using Prodex for my base­ment concrete floor.

    How crit­ical is it to install a plywood sub-floor on top of the Prodex prior to installing lami­nate wood floors?

    Thanks.

    January 29th, 2012
  10. 010 Larry

    I installed the Prodex directly on the concrete floor and then installed the lami­nate flooring directly over it with no issues.
    It’s been down for three years now. I’d advise filling any cracks or large dips with a concrete patch first.
    Let me know how things go.
    Cheers

    January 29th, 2012
Have a question about this or a related DIY project? Ask your question below.