Importance of Insulation and Types of Roofing Insulation

Insulation extends the performance of your roof. It is one of the essential factors that maintenance and engineering managers must consider. It also accounts for the building’s thermal needs and satisfy applicable energy codes. To improve the life of your roofs, the insulation should work in accordance with the membrane and structural deck. Roof insulation helps lowering down the total energy consumption and improves the comfort of your house. It is an ideal way to prevent unwanted heat penetration from the outside of the building. A roof insulation layer is said to reduce the amount of heat penetration in summers up to 97% and also provides better thermal insulation in winters.

Types of Roof Insulation

Wood Fiber: - Among various roof insulations, the most commonly used is wood fiber. It is an organic compound composed of wood, cane or other vegetable fibers mixed with binders and fillers. The wood insulation can be impregnated with asphalt to enhance its moisture resistance.

Concrete block insulation: - It is made up of foam board and needs to be placed outside of the wall. It is ideally suited for unfinished walls, including foundation walls. It requires specialized skills. The biggest advantage of using this type of insulation is, it insulates cores and increases wall R-value.

Polyisocyanurate:- It is a closed cell foam plastic insulation, which is sandwiched between organic and inorganic felt facers, glass fiber mat facers or glass fiber re-enforced aluminum foil facers. It also features chlorine free blowing agent which expands the foam material, creating a closed cell structure that gives the insulation.

Cellular Glass insulation: - It is composed of crushed glass combined with a foaming agent. The components of this insulation are mixed, placed in a mold and heated, which then melts the glass and decomposes the foaming agent. This process, after then causes the mixture to expand and create uniform and connected cells to form the insulating material.

Extruded polystyrene:- Extruded polystyrene is composed of a blended polystyrene polymer heated and run through an extrusion process. The materials are then exposed to atmospheric conditions, which causes it to expand and create closed cell structure.

Gypsum board: - It is a non structural, non combustible, water resistant and treated gypsum core panel. It comes with a proprietary, non asphaltic coating on one side to enhance roof membrane adhesion. This insulation is typically used as a cover board over foam plastic insulations.

Those were some of the common types of roofing insulations available. Leave the job to the engineering and roofing professionals to help you chose a best roofing insulation, serving your needs. Matthew Lamz is a highly skilled and experienced roofing contractor based in Austin, offering a wide range of roofing services to the residents of Austin and around. He has a team of factory trained professionals, who deliver best roofing services in Austin.