Sound insulation: Choosing the materials

From traffic sounds and neighborhood clamor to excessive internal echoes in crowded rooms; unwanted noise acts as a major annoyance in almost any setting. Different types of acoustic insulation are designed to deflect, absorb and dissipate noise to keep sound levels at a more manageable level. At best, many are good products and truly useful for soundproofing. Some, however, are of questionable benefit to homeowners.

Two distinct soundproofing problems should be considered when designing acoustic treatments: how to improve the sound within a room and how to reduce sound leakage to and from adjacent rooms or outdoors.

Choosing the best materials depends on your home requirements, your budget, and how efficient you need it to be.

These are the most common materials used to achieve acoustic insulation:

Blankets and Batts: placed between wall studs or inside floors or roof framing, these materials to help control noise levels. Blankets improve acoustic performance by absorbing sound waves and increasing the density of the structure.

Gypsum Panels: according to the Department of Transportation, doubling the thickness of a gypsum panel reduces sound transmission through walls by 6 decibels.

Acoustic Panels: designed to absorb sound waves instead of blocking sound transfer from room to room. Acoustic panels reduce echoes and reverberation within a space and according to Armstrong World Industries they are capable of absorbing up to 95 percent of sound.

An effective sound barrier can be yours when the correct type of acoustic insulation is correctly installed into your home. Leave it to the experts to provide you with the peace and quiet that you deserve.

Spray foam insulation: an alternative to traditional insulation

When we insulate our home, we want to achieve the best results the first time. Who doesn’t want their home to be energy efficient and take advantage of other the other benefits insulation provides such as the reduction of sound transfer.

Spray foam insulation is an alternative to traditional home insulation such as fiberglass. It has a better performance and homes treated with spray foam insulation are typically 50% better insulated than traditional insulation products.

Costs can be justified if we take into consideration that the Insulation that is sprayed in buildings protects against moisture, which provides the benefit of reducing the chance of harmful mold and mildew.

Spray foam insulation levels vary with some providing an R-value up to 6.7 per inch. A strong R-value indicates high thermal resistance and excellent heat transfer from one object to another one. The result is a comfortable air quality all year round within your home or other property.

As you can see, spray foam insulation is an intelligent choice for insulating your home. You should definitely consider using this technology. Keep in mind that the application of this technology is not as simple as traditional insulation, so it will require a professional team to safely handle the project.

Diaz One Insulation offers commercial and residential services providing spray foam, blow in and many more insulation options. Our main priority is to give our customers the high quality services they deserve. 

Fiberglass insulation: What you need to know

There is a lot to take into consideration when insulating any space; a key aspect would be the type of materials you use. Fiberglass is most commonly used because it is the cheapest and works well in most spaces. When you want to achieve the most effective heating solution, choosing the best insulation material is very important for your budget and your homes future. Using more material can be a waste of money and not using enough won’t give us the results we are expecting.  

A way to know how much material we need to insulate our home is comparing the R-value of the material with the R-value we want to achieve. There are other elements you want to consider.

Each space has its own capability to minimize heat transfer.  For example, a wooden roof also has a R-value and you want to take this into consideration when calculating the amount of insulation needed. The more R-value the space has the less insulation material it requires. When considering fiberglass as your insulation material it is highly recommended that you consult fiberglass insulation R-value chart so you can see how this material works on each space.

Sometimes it depends on the climate zone, as in Atlanta, an attic space and wall cavities are the spaces that demands the highest R-values while other spaces demands less efforts to be properly insulated.

Insulating your home properly can be difficult, as you see; you have to consider a lot of elements. It is better if you get advices from a professional, not only for choosing the best material but to install it properly so you can get the best results.

R-value: How much insulation needs my home

One can think that insulation is something easy to do. . . .” I can put some insulating material here and there and my home will be fine”. This is simply not true. The first thing we have to deal with is the R-value-and yes- we don’t know anything about it. Depending  on  the  area  that  we  want  to  insulate,  we  have  to  meet certain specifications,  for  example;  attic  insulation  should  have  about R-40.  That specification can be meet using different materials and keep in mind each material has a different R-value. But we have to keep in mind that the higher the R-value, the better it insulates per inch of thickness. In  that  order  of ideas,  the  higher  the  R-value  of  the  material, the less  quantity we need, so the R-value can help us to choose the right material and even save some money. Per  example,  we  can  choose  Fiberglass  as  insulating  material; fiberglass  r value  is  about  3  so,  we  need  about  14’’  thick  fiberglass  insulation  (for  attics). Other  materials  have  R-values  up  to  8  so,  with  less  quantity  we  can  get  the same results. How much insulating material does my project need?  It  depends  on  the materials you chose and  this  is  when  a  professional  can  be  helpful. 

Insulating your home can be tricky depending on the space we want to insulate. If  you  live  in  Atlanta,  Diaz  One insulation  team  can  handle  your  insulation project. We have the expertise to help you choose the right material. We like to focus in quality and cost efficiency.