The typical 3600 sf home insulated with fiberglass batts 
will leak enough heated & cooled air to fill 3-4 Goodyear blimps per day...and you'll pay to heat and cool it all.

The SOLUTION?
Select foam insulation for your walls 
to stop your new home from leaking so badly!

The Enemy Is Air Infiltration.  Air infiltration is the enemy of every family intent on saving energy dollars in their home and trying to make the home more comfort- able. While most builders and homeowners concentrate on trying to increase R-value in the different parts of the energy envelope, research consistently measures air leakage as responsible for about 1/3 of all the energy lost in a home.  Yet the glass strands used to make the most commonly used insulation, fiberglass batts, have virtually no ability to stop the flow of air. 

There is another strategy to help you reduce the amount of air infiltration.  Spray foam is an airflow retarder.  In fact, in a 3 1/2" sample, open cell foam is 24 times less permeable to air infiltration than a fiberglass batt.  And since it also fits better than a fiberglass batt, with the foam actually adhering to the studs in the wall cavity, the combination insures the best possible reduction in air infiltration in the walls of a new home.

SORRY...Most Attics Leak Like a Sieve...Yours Included!    Most housing experts believe that the attic is the largest air leakage area in the entire house.  Air rises from the conditioned areas of the house into the attic at will.  Recessed lights create virtual "chimneys" for air leakage into the attic and out of the building.  Ceiling boxes provide another escape route for conditioned air.  Unsealed penetrations into the attic for wiring, plumbing and heat ducts let your heat leak out, as well. Perhaps the biggest leak area, however, is the thousand or more feet of cracks along the indoor and exterior partitions where the drywall does not seal tightly against the ceiling plates.  The cumulative openings from these seemingly insignificant cracks are the equivalent of opening a double hung window about 4" and leaving it open 24 hours a day.  Imagine the energy loss on a windy 10 degree winter night if you left a window open.  You say "I'd never do that," but unless you make provisions to seal your attic, you'll be leaving it open to leak by about the same amount all the time. 

"Well," some builders argue, "those cracks are all covered by insulation."  So what?  From our discussion about the properties of fiberglass in the box below, we want to hammer home the point that fiberglass strands do not stop air movement.  And fiberglass won't even begin to seal the 1000 or more of running feet of cracks into the attic through which your heated or cooled air will leak away.  So, if you want an efficient home, don't count on fiberglass batts or blown-in insulation to stop the leaks. 

Find a Cure for Air Leakage - Spray Foam Does it Best.

How do foam houses perform 30% - 50% better than homes with fiberglass when the R-values in the homes are supposedly the same?  Four reasons...foam fits better, it doesn't allow air to leak through it, its R-value doesn't decline when it is cold or the wind is blowing, and it doesn't allow energy robbing convection looping to steal your heat.  So seal the walls with foam.  And, if you can afford it, seal the attic, as well.

Best Way to Seal an Attic.

In fact, we have two suggested ways to get excellent efficiency in the attic and still save money: 

  If You Have a Reasonable Budget: If your budget will allow, we suggest that you order a 3-5" layer of foam sprayed across the entire attic ceiling to insulate it and seal it, and then, if required, increase the R-value to 40-50 to meet the building code by blowing in inexpensive loose fill insulation like cellulose insulation over the top.