How to Buy Insulation

Video Transcript

"You don't really need insulation now. It's the fall, it's not cold, it's not too hot, not a problem, but in the wintertime, and in the summertime, insulation is a great thing to have in the house. Now, I'm Robert Markey, and we're going to talk about the different kinds of insulation, how to buy insulation for your house. There are a number of kinds, but basically, your choices are if you're going to put it in yourself, I limit it to three. The first, the old style, fiberglass. There it is, fiberglass insulation. It comes in a width, and it comes in a depth. The width can be 24, if your studs are 24 on center, 16, if they are 16 on center. The depth for your walls, used to be 2 x 4, so it's 3 1/2 inch. If they're now 2 x 6's, they are 5 1/2 inches. If it is for a ceiling, it can be up to, I believe they have 10 inch fiberglass now, for your ceiling. Fiberglass is itchy when you put it in. The foil face rigid is a really nice alternative, because the foil is going to reflect the heat, and here's your insulation in here. This comes in basically, 4 x 8 sheets, and wherever you're going to put it, between the studs, or in the ceiling, you're going to cut it to whatever width you need. Push it up. If there's any air spaces in there, you can put a little foam in there, to seal it. The pink, of course also, they make it in blue, is a rigid insulation. This is used actually in the ground, so if your foundation is not insulated, so your basement is getting lots of cold air, which is coming up to your house. This is what you want to use. It comes in one inch or two inch. This is what you want to use below the ground, to pack your foundation, to really insulate that, so your house will stay much warmer, the basement will stay warmer, your house will stay warmer, and this is pretty much it. There's blown-in insulation, and urethane insulation, but that's pretty much done by a company, to do it. Basically, you can calculate square footage of any of these, and this is sold by the square foot, and that's how much you need. This is Robert Markey. We've been talking about insulation."