Best wall insulation for REScheck reports

This blog post is by Jobe Leonard for Rescheck.info and the Reschexpert blog.  He enjoys all types of Rescheck Wall insulation and studying their affects on passing and failing Rescheck reports.

Jobe Leonard Rescheck.info

We are working very hard to build a REScheck service that has been long needed in the construction industry.  We place a strong focus on quality, customer service, and helping people resolve issues with their REScheck energy reports.  One way we do this is by answering the most commonly asked questions to our experts in our Rescheck blog.   The question we discussed in our phone conversations, live chat, and via text message most often had to deal with wall insulation.  Most particularly, what is the best option for wall insulation in regards to a Rescheck energy report.  We will attempt to discuss some wall insulation solutions and their pros and cons below.

The most common and affordable wall insulation is batt insulation.  On a Rescheck report this would be considered a cavity wall insulation.  There are plenty of options for R-Value.  Exactly what you need will vary depending on your code, climate zone, and building department.  A good rule of thumb is to start with R-19 batts as a minimum and then work your way up from there.  Although it is completely possible that an R-11 or R-13 may be sufficient for your project as well.  It may be worth the cost of upgrade to switch over to the R-19.   The beauty of our customer focused Rescheck service is that we can offer these suggestions and give you additional information and options to make better decisions, free of charge with our standard rescheck for only $79.  While our competitors charge twice as much and charge $75-$200 for each modification.

Another type of wall insulation that is gaining popularity is spray foam insulation.  This is sprayed into the cavity of the walls and can be made with a variety of chemicals.  You will want to check the material safety data sheet before exposing your family to a foam that might have off gassing.  This is a nice solution because it can provide air tight seals to all the gaps between studs and sheathing.  The R-Value for this will be measured per inch so make sure whatever spray foam company you choose offers you an R-Value and thickness guarantee.

One really great way to build your walls is with a structural insulated panel.  I have built hundreds of homes with structural insulated panels personally.  The nice thing about SIPS is that it acts as a continuous insulation.  A continuous insulation works well for a home, because it has minimal to zero breaks in the insulation.  Whereas a cavity type insulation has 2×4’s or 2×6’s every 16″ to 24″ around the perimeter of the home.  Each vertical stud in a conventionally built home acts as a place for energy to escape.  The structural insulated panels solves this buy offering a fully insulated envelope and a rescheck report will compensate you for this.

Another type of wall insulation is an actual log wall.  The insulation of a log home’s wall is the log itself.  The species, thickness, and cut will determine it’s R-value.  An actual log has a relatively low R-value per inch.  This makes many of the log on log styles of construction off limits in Climate zones 4 and 5.  However, a chinked log home can offer some solutions in northern climates, because the chink space itself can be packed full of high R-Value insulation.  I have plenty of solutions for log homes and ways to create their rescheck energy reports.  If you have a problem with a log home rescheck report feel free to let me help.

These are some basic types of wall insulation that you will commonly see in rescheck energy reports.  There are also many more.  Some other examples are rigid board foam, straw bales, and cellulose.  However, we will cover those another day, because the instance of using those is far less common.  If you need a report that uses one of these exotic insulations then we already have templates ready to create your resheck report.  Just upload your plan, or email them to service@rescheck.info and we will take a look at your wall insulation and see if it is correct for your climate zone, energy needs, building code, and jurisdiction.

Have you seen other methods of insulating a wall that work well with rescheck reporting?  We would love to hear about them so please send your suggestions to us on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Houzz, and Pinterest.

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