Valuable insights about vapor barrier insulation

A vapor barrier is a material that resists diffusion of moisture. It is an impermeable membrane which blocks the flow of air through the building envelope. Although a vapor barrier is an essential part of the building envelope it is often either omitted or installed incorrectly. Water vapor moves into building by either diffusion through building material or by leakage. A vapor barrier acts to prevent the passage of water vapor that is contained in the air. For effective waterproofing in a building, the insulation material should be accompanied by a vapor barrier.

A vapor barrier should act to prevent condensation. Condensation damages all types of envelope structures. It rots wood structures, rusts steel structures and steel masonry reinforcements thus causing a freeze-cracking of the masonry. Besides preventing condensation a good vapor barrier allows the passage of plumbing and electrical lines without a puncturing of the same.
Vapor barriers need to be installed on the warm side of the insulation since condensation occurs as water vapor moves from the warm side of the wall to the cold side. A vapor barrier will also control the movement of air or vapor infiltration through the building walls. A vapor barrier helps in keeping the heated air from escaping to the outdoors and the cold air from infiltrating into the warm rooms.

Some of the vapor barrier materials used include polyethylene plastic. It is installed on the inside of the wall between the insulation and the drywall. Black polyethylene is a vapor barrier whose use is limited to hot and humid climates where air cooling rather than heating is of importance. Another form of vapor barrier is treated paper bonded to batt insulation. This vapor barrier has limited effectiveness in that it is difficult to obtain a proper seal at its edges and joints. Foil insulation is probably the best form of vapor barrier. It is cheap and ensures water vapor is regulated efficiently within your building.

Shopping for reflective insulation in the comfort of your house

The internet offers convenience in the purchase of reflective insulation. It offers a 24-hour online store and customers can make their orders at anytime of the day or night. Besides, an online purchase of reflective insulation is faster, being free of the physical aisles that consume much of your time, money and energy in form the of a conventional visit to retail stores, most of whose operations are confined to business hours.

Most online companies have designed easy to use and reliable websites with much enhanced interactivity. The sites offer excellent displays and descriptions of reflective insulation products with text, photos and multimedia files to aid customers in making the best choices when shopping for reflective insulation. The sites also supplement the information they have by connecting customers to links with added information on the instructions, demonstrations, specifications and other technical data about the desired reflective insulation.

Such sites thus enable customers to easily identify the reflective insulation products they are looking for and their prices. This makes the whole shopping experience for reflective insulation quick, efficient and relatively effortless.

Foil insulation for buildings

Foil insulation must be used with an open air space. To install it properly and maximize its moisture barrier properties, the seams of the foil insulation must be taped. For efficiency in performance the foil insulation should be used as a single sheet. Doubling the thickness to two or three layers may not have a substantial improvement on the performance. Foil insulation can be used as a stand alone material or as a part of a complete radiant system on top of a mass insulation material in the roof or floor to improve on the results.

Foil insulation is made up of aluminum and air space. It works by reducing reflecting radiant heat transfer. This is an improvement from the traditional insulation material such as fiberglass blankets which conduct heat. Foil insulation produces better results with less material. It is an effective moisture barrier which reduces vapor and moisture condensation, a problem encountered by other insulation products such as fiberglass. Condensation results in the rotting of the wood and rusting of the metallic building materials. Before installing the foil insulation material they should be perforated to reduce moisture which may contribute towards condensation.