This picture below is exactly why you need foam insulation. Anything you purchase for your home having to do with energy or the operating costs of the home is a true investment that will either save you a lot of money over the years or cost you a lot. People typically make a mistake by focusing on the initial cost of these items, or the visible portion of the iceberg.

What they should pay more attention to is the portion under the water, which represents their ongoing heating and cooling costs, which are obviously much more significant.

Take a look at the following examples.

A 2,400 square foot home in WNY costs about $3,000 to insulate with fiberglass. In a 15-year period after the construction of that home, the costs you’ll pay for heating alone will likely be over $40,000. Add electricity cost for air conditioning and you can add another $10,000 to that number!

On the other hand, with foam in the same home the initial cost would be around $7,500 and the heating costs over 15 years would be as low as $20,000. Electricity for A/C would be as low as $5,000.

Let’s equate this to something we do a little more often…buying a car. Pick your favorite car. Say that car sells for $3,000 and it got 10 miles to the gallon. Now, what if I offered you the same exact car, but it was $7,500 and it got 20 miles to the gallon. Which would you buy? Of course you would buy the $7,500 car because you would make up that extra $4,500 in four or five years. Foam insulation is even more of a “no brainer” because you tend to keep your house longer than you keep cars. A house also lasts much longer than a car. Even if you move out your house will be worth more to a potential buyer if you can prove how low your heating bills are. Let’s face it, one of the first things a prospective buyer looks into before buying a home are the heating costs. In the end though, Foam is not “the same car” as fiberglass. Other than initial cost, there are simply no material advantages of fiberglass over foam.

Durability

Foam is a permanent inert plastic. It will not settle, shrink, or sag over time. It will easily outlast you and your home. On the other hand, fiberglass compresses under its own weight over time. Since fiberglass’ effectiveness depends on being able to have air move between its hundreds of layers, any compression leads to less insulating power each and every day that passes by. Thus, as energy prices go higher you actually need more of it to keep the same level of comfort.

Cancer

Fiberglass has been declared a likely carcinogen by the government (www.ornl.org). Why would you even consider putting something like this in your home?

Lowers Construction Costs

Yes, foam is more expensive to install than fiberglass, but there are other areas of home construction that can be modified due to the efficiency of foam. For example, the size of a furnace and all of its expensive ductwork can be reduced by 30%. By the way, we always recommend direct vent furnaces and water heaters in any home. They are much more efficient than “B-Vent” components that exhaust through your roof and they use outside air for combustion.

2x6 walls, unless they are needed for structural reasons are absolutely unnecessary in a foamed home. Many builders and their customers these days want a 2x6 wall to allow them greater fiberglass insulating capacity. Since one inch of foam will outperform 5.5 inches of fiberglass we think 2x6 walls are simply a waste if they are for insulation.

Comfort

Did you ever notice that if you put your hand on the exterior wall of a fiberglass insulated home on a cold and windy winter day that it is cold? Since foam is a wind barrier and is not subject to convective loops, the temperature in a foamed home tends to be within a couple degrees regardless of where you are relative to the exterior walls.

One of the problems with fiberglass is that heat rises. People accept the fact that gas bills are high just because that’s the way it always has been. Although they are comfortable for the most part, what they don’t realize is that warm air just runs out of their roof. Houses are actually designed with ridge vents that create a pull on the air inside a home to bring it out the roof. The roofs were built that way to cool the underside of the roof and to pull moisture out of the insulation, but one of the side effects is that warm air is also pulled out. One of the areas that are becoming more popular in homes that clearly illustrate the inferiority of fiberglass is in rooms above garages. They’re much cooler and uncomfortable than the rest of the house during the winter because cold air easily infiltrates the room from the cold garage below. Foam insulation stops this cold air migration and makes for a much more comfortable living space.

Air Quality

Did you know that about 99% of the humid air in your home comes from OUTSIDE of the home? It’s true. Aside from breathing and cooking there is very little moisture generated within a home. Remember that steam generated from showers is typically vented out of the home through a bathroom fan. The complete air seal of a foamed home keeps all moisture from entering a home. It also keeps out other annoyances out of the home like dust, pollen, allergens, pathogens, and anything else carried by the wind. Fiberglass does not create an air tight seal, which allows all of these to enter the home.

Fire

Fire rips through fiberglass in seconds. Foam on the other hand is loaded with flame retardants. Although it will burn it contains no fuel for a fire. You could take a match to a piece of foam insulation and although it will burn, once the match is pulled away the foam will self extinguish. Foam’s air seal also denies fire the oxygen it needs to burn. Firemen love it.

Sound

Again, the air seal provided by foam makes it a much better sound deadener than fiberglass. The general rule is that wherever air can travel so can sound. Since fiberglass is built to have air circulate through it, sound does the same. The occupants of a foamed home can hear much less exterior noise than those of a fiberglass insulated home.