When it comes to energy-efficient renovations, an often overlooked home upgrade is insulation. While replacement windows and high-efficiency furnaces receive much of the attention, it’s important to remember that improving the attic, wall and basement insulation of your home can provide a lot of value for your investment!

Recently, we completed a home upgrade in Kelowna, BC, that offered an opportunity to showcase the process of upgrading insulation. Typical of older homes, this property has very little to no insulation. Built in the 1940’s, this bungalow style home with raised crawl space contains a tar paper air barrier, ship lap construction with lath and plaster walls. The only insulation to be found is wood shavings in the walls and ceilings

To start, we upgraded the insulation in the crawl space. Generally homeowners don’t think of their basement or crawl space as a prime source of heat loss, yet basements can account for 20 to 30 per cent of a home’s total.

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Vapor barrier is an important aspect of insulation. However, a lot of people don’t know what vapor barrier is, let alone its application. Here is a short paragraph that describes what vapor barrier is, and also its purpose associated with insulation. The frequently ask questions such as how to apply or use vapor barriers, where to apply vapor barrier, how to install vapor barrier and what is crawl space vapor barrier will be answered.

While you are checking the amount of insulation, another thing that you should be checking is whether there is vapor barrier associated with the insulation. A vapor barrier is a thin sheet material such as polyethylene film, aluminum foil, or an asphalt-impregnated kraft paper through which water vapor cannot readily pass.

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