THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9409290351
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KATHLEEN BUTLER, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 159 lines
Soon, Jack Frost will be nipping at your nose - and tugging at your purse strings.
With winter just around the corner, local insulation contractors say now is the time to make sure your home is properly dressed for the cold weather.
``It's an excellent time for people to be thinking about it,'' says Ken Zenzel, a partner in Energy Pro of Virginia Beach. ``But most people don't think about it until there's a problem. It's human nature to put things off.''
Pat Cherry, owner of Insulation Service Co. in Virginia Beach, says fall is a transitional period - the lull between paying to temper summer's heat and to fight winter's chill. That, she says, makes it the best time to sit back and evaluate the energy efficiency of your house.
``In fall you know what the summer bills have been, so now's the time to do something about it, before the winter energy bills begin arriving,'' Cherry says.
Insulation is not the only key to reducing energy bills - using quality heating and cooling equipment and reducing air infiltration and duct leakage are also important factors - but insulation contractors like Cherry and Zenzel say evaluating and upgrading the effectiveness of your insulation are important steps in creating a more energy-efficient home.
Insulation is used to blanket a building's interior from both heat and cold. Different types of insulation are rated according to ``R-value,'' which measures the resistance to heat flow. The higher the insulation's R-value, the greater its insulating power is.
Traditionally, fiberglass has been the most popular form of insulation. But new products such as a ``premium'' loose-fill cellulose are gaining acceptance.
Last February, Zenzel and partner Tom Perkins formed Energy Pro, a company that rates and audits homes for energy efficiency. Together they market a new loose-fill cellulose insulation that they say actually blocks air flow, thus better protecting the home from the heat and cold than does fiberglass.
``The great advantage of cellulose is that because it's very fine, it doesn't allow air to pass through it,'' Zenzel says.
In August, Zenzel and Perkins installed the blown cellulose in the 3,000-square-foot attic of their Virginia Beach office on top of the existing fiberglass insulation. The cellulose, Zenzel says, compresses the fiberglass and caps it so air won't circulate through it.
The insulation, made of recycled newspapers and telephone books, resembles a pile of dryer lint and, unlike fiberglass, is soft and fluffy to the touch. It is sold under a variety of names, including R-Pro and Nature Guard.
Although cellulose insulation may be slightly more expensive to install than fiberglass, Zenzel says home owners will be repaid by lower energy bills. And, they say, homes require only eight inches of cellulose insulation to equal the R-30 insulating value of 13 inches of fiberglass insulation.
In addition to its insulating properties, Perkins says cellulose helps protect the building from outside noise and, because it is treated with a form of boric acid, repels insects and rodents.
But in the past, cellulose-based insulations have been criticized because they were said to be dusty and potential fire hazards.
``For four years as a housing inspector, I thought of it as a third-rate material,'' Perkins says. ``I knew when I went into an attic filled with cellulose, I needed to wear a dust mask.''
But Zenzel says the new ``premium'' cellulose insulation installed by Energy Pro and other contractors leaves little dust and has been proven fire safe in numerous tests, Zenzel says.
``They removed a great deal of the dust from the cellulose and added a stabilizer,'' Zenzel says. ``When the cellulose is installed, water is injected causing the stabilizer to activate so the insulation is less likely to settle or move.''
The stabilizer is the key to the insulation's effectiveness, Zenzel says. Loose-fill fiberglass insulations and cellulose insulations that do not contain a water-activated stabilizer can be blown into crevices and voids, but often fall, providing little insulating value in those areas, Zenzel says. The stabilizer makes ``premium'' cellulose products more effective at covering hard-to-reach areas, he says.
``Cellulose insulation has been around for many many years,'' Perkins says. ``The difference between new and old is the way the newspapers are recycled and processed. ``
Still, Cherry, an insulation contractor for 21 years, says for now she prefers to install fiberglass insulation.
``Fiberglass has been around for a long time, and it's an excellent product for Tidewater because there's no moisture absorption,'' she says.
Fiberglass was developed more than 40 years ago and since then has been installed in sheets or by blowing loose-fill fiberglass inside the building. Although it has a reputation for being irritating to the touch, Cherry says new fiberglass products have been greatly improved.
``The way it is made today is better,'' she says. ``It's not as itchy. You can ball it up in your hands and not even worry about it.''
Recent studies have pegged fiberglass as a possible cancer-causing agent, but Cherry says she is not convinced it is a potential health risk.
``If that were the case, you would have had problems long ago,'' she says. ``They've tested this product time and time again.''
Greg Grundel, owner of Brabble Insulation Inc. in Norfolk, says he was at first concerned about the potential health risk to himself and his employees, but he says the studies are not conclusive and that fiberglass insulation is not a risk to homeowners once it is installed behind walls and ceilings.
Still, both Grundel and Cherry say they are eagerly awaiting the debut of a new cotton-based insulation due in limited supply on the market in the next few months. The insulation will be made of recycled cotton materials, and was the brainchild of a clothing manufacturer who needed a use for leftover scraps of material.
``It is going to be fantastic for people who are environmentally concerned,'' Cherry says. ``It's 100 percent recycled textile fiber.''
With so many insulation products on the market, Zenzel says he recommends home owners consult an insulation contractor who installs a variety of insulations. Some products are better for certain situations than others, and often a combination of products is most effective, he says
Cellulose, for example, is good for walls and floors, but fiberglass is more practical for crawl spaces, he says. And fiberglass batting placed on the edge of an eve prevent loose-fill cellulose from falling into the eves where it is not needed, Perkins says.
Insulation contractors will evaluate the insulation in a house and make recommendations for improvements. In addition, through Virginia Power, homeowners may have their houses inspected for energy efficiency and then may be eligible for low-interest loans of up to $10,000 to make improvements.
In upgrading insulation, Cherry says it is important for homeowners to remember to insulate beneath their floors as well as behind walls and in the attic. Twenty percent of heat loss is lost through floors, and that loss is not prevented by carpeting, she says
``Frequently I find there's no insulation between the ceiling of a garage and the floor upstairs,'' Perkins says..
In addition, Perkins says it is important to look at how the existing insulation is distributed. If it has settled and left gaps, you should probably replace it, he says. Also, if the insulation was installed upside down, with the paper backing facing the wrong way, it needs to be reinstalled, he says.
``The way a product is installed can make a great deal of difference in its performance,'' Zenzel says. ``It's kind of like sleeping on top of a blanket and trying to stay warm.''
Insulating beneath tubs, behind showers and under water heaters can also reduce energy use, Zenzel says.
As winter approaches, homeowners should inspect all the components of their home - duct work, storm windows, heating equipment and insulation - and replace or improve areas that are not up to energy efficiency standards.
Check to see that storm windows are well sealed and that their heating and cooling equipment has been serviced and is energy efficient before replacing or reinstalling insulation.
``You can add all the insulation in the world, but if the equipment isn't right, it won't help,'' Grundel says.
In the end, contractors say insulation alone is not the key to lower energy bills.
``Insulating simply to insulate may not be the best solution,'' Perkins says. ``We'd be doing people a disservice if we said insulation is the panacea to energy problems, because it isn't. Insulation is a part of the whole.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Now is the time to evaluate the energy efficiency of your house,
says Pat Cherry, owner of Insulation Service Co. in Virginia Beach.
She prefers to install fiberglass insulation, because it doesn't
absorb moisture, a quality particularly valuable in humid Hampton
Roads.
Tom Perkins of Energy Pro says cellulose filler allows better
ventilation.
by CNB