energy efficient wooden homes

ENERGY EFFICIENT WOODEN HOMES

If you want to build economical homes that are eco-friendly, then build energy-efficient wooden dwellings. In most cases building a wooden house or an American style home is more economical to build. The reason why wooden homes are far more energy-efficient is that all walls are insulated and roof space. Here are a few tips for insulating energy-efficient homes.

How To Build Energy Efficient Wooden Homes?

Many builders specialise in building wooden homes or log homes. However, most of these builders are not insulation savvy. They know a bit about insulation. This is where the homeowner must take control when it comes to insulation. Let’s have a look at a few ways to make the home energy efficient.

  1. At the building stage of energy, efficient wooden homes make sure to insulate under the floors. Now in this application, we suggest laminating foil to the insulation. The reason for the foil lamination is to reduce wind penetration as well as condensation. However, one of the main reasons is if you spill water on the wooden floors, it will run off the foil and not damage the insulation. This will reduce hot or cold air entering the home through the floor space in winter.
  2. All sidewalls must be insulated with Cavity Batt. This insulation is specially designed for this application. In fact, the Cavity Batt is 110mm Thick and is SANS compliant for this application. One can also use Isotherm insulation. However, I would recommend laminating on both sides. Walls must have a foil barrier to prevent condensation. Cavitybatt is a big step to building energy-efficient wooden homes.
  3. The Roof space must be well insulated with either 135mm Aerolite insulation or 145mm Isotherm. These two products are equally good and are SANS compliant for the Western Cape region. In fact, it does not matter what region you live in. Instead, install the best roof insulation at the start.
  4. A double glazed window will also make a massive difference for summer as well as winter.
  5. Solar Geyser should be installed with a few extra panels for conserving some battery power in the event of power outages.

Insulation To Use When Building Energy Efficient Wooden Homes

There are several different insulation types to use to get the best out of a wooden home.

  • The forage of any home with wooden floors is an area of heat loss and gain. We would use two layers of 135mm Aerolite Insulation laminated with foil on one side for the floor space. The 135mm Aerolite has an NRC 1.1, so using two layers will kill all sound and reduce freezing air in winter. For more on the Aerolite, specifications read our specifications page.
  • For the walls, the Cavity batt insulation is perfect. In fact cavity, batt insulation will be cooler than brick walls in summer. Importantly cavity batt will also be warmer in winter. As we know, when brick or concrete face the sun all day, they get boiling inside the home. However, because Cavitybatt is insulation, it does not allow the hot air to flow through. We stock wall Cavity Batt insulation.
  • For the Roof insulation, we suggest the 145mm Isotherm insulation. The Isotherm is SANS compliant and will achieve the r-value of 3.70. Read our Isotherm Specifications page to be sure to select the right insulation. Ensuring you have the proper R-value is essential. Do not install a thinner Isotherm product as this will be a waste of money. Instead, have a higher R-value and be safe.

A Well Insulated Home Is An Energy Efficient Home

All well-insulated homes will be Energy Efficient homes and give you years of energy saving. When insulating sidewalls, floors and roof space, always use the service of Aerolite installers for aerolite and Isotherm Installers for Isotherm. This will make it possible to get the best out of your insulation. It is not possible to build any home efficiently without insulation. However, I believe that a wooden house will be more energy-efficient as the walls are insulated. I hope this post was beneficial for those wanting to build energy-efficient wooden homes.