The Reasons Why Insulation Must be a Priority

by Carlisle Homes

Thermal insulation will provide comfort, energy efficiency and savings on your home’s running costs, but it needs to be considered early in the planning process.

Good thermal insulation is one of the best investments anyone building their own home can make, especially in places like Melbourne, with hot summers and cold winters. Indeed, you only have to look at the animations presented here to see how much potential there is for heat loss and heat gain through your walls, ceilings, windows, doors and floors. However, it’s often not given enough attention. Until, that is, the house is built, the owners move in and the first winter mornings start to bite, at which stage it’s too late to fix without expensive and inconvenient building interventions. To avoid that scenario, it’s vital that you consider your insulation options as early as possible in the planning process for your new home.

Why is thermal insulation so important?

There are three main arguments for having good thermal insulation, each as compelling as the next. The first is the superior level of comfort it brings to your home: a well-insulated house keeps indoor temperatures even, protecting you from chilly winter mornings and oppressive summer heat. The second is greatly improved energy efficiency: with good insulation, your air-conditioning and heating won’t have to work as hard to maintain your desired temperature, so they consume less energy and your house has a lower impact on the environment. And the third is cost effectiveness: using less energy means lower power bills. Over the life of your home, your investment in additional insulation could pay for itself several times over.

How do you choose insulation?

There are different insulation products for different purposes, including batts specifically manufactured for ceiling spaces and wall cavities, and wall wrap, which is installed inside external walls. And they can be made from a wide range of materials. Every Carlisle home is insulated to an exceptional standard, using high-quality insulation products supplied by CSR Bradford, with Glasswool ceiling batts and wall batts sufficient to achieve a six-star energy rating, and breathable wall wrap to external walls, including outer garage walls. We also offer upgrades to achieve even higher levels of protection. These can be selected as part of the Spectra Colour Selection process, with the assistance of our expert design consultants.

When considering these upgrades, the most useful information to note is each insulation product’s R-value. This is a single number which indicates the level of insulation the product will provide – the higher the R-value, the greater its ability to keep heat inside during winter, and keep it out during summer. As a guide, the wall batts included as standard in every Carlisle home have an R-value which allows you to choose insulation with higher R-values for even higher levels of comfort, energy efficiency and cost effectiveness.

Don’t forget your windows

Incredibly, in an average home, windows can account for up to 40% of the heat lost from a house during winter, and 40% of the heat gained in summer. The windows (and doors) in every Carlisle home are manufactured and installed to protect against draughts. But the best way to ensure that your windows don’t undo the good work of your insulation is to opt for double glazing, which provides a “thermal break” to dramatically reduce the conduction of heat. You can learn more about it in this recent blog post.

Carlisle Homes installs high-quality aluminium-framed double-glazed windows manufactured in Australia by A&L Windows, and as part of the Life’s Better When It’s Included promotion, they’re currently offered as standard in all Affinity and T-Range homes, alongside a long list of other luxury inclusions. Combine them with CSR Bradford’s insulation throughout the rest of your home, and you’ll be looking out through those windows on frosty mornings and wondering what all the fuss is about!