Monday, February 2, 2009

What You Don't Know About "R" Value

"R" Fairy Tale - The Myth of Insulation Values
(excerpt from article by David B. South)

One of the fairy tales of our time is the "R-value." The "R-value" is touted to the Canadian consumer to the point where it has taken a "chiseled in stone" status.

The saddest part of the fairy tale is the R-value by itself is almost a worthless number, given that the effectiveness of most insulation materials are highly dependent on the quality of the installation. For example, batt-type insulation is commonly "stuffed", improperly fitted, or has gaps and voids. With inappropriate or poorly installed insulation the R-value dwindles very quickly and the effective R-value is much less than the stated amount.

As well, R-values are a measure of thermal resistance to heat transfer caused by conduction and convection but do not measure a product's ability to reflect radiant heat energy.

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