Comments on: Terrific new insulation

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 00:04:47 +0000

Chris,

That’s confused me: their site says:

“Bradford Polyair Unicell is an extra heavy duty sarking and reflective insulation material in one product. It is designed for use in a range of roof, wall and floor applications in commercial buildings.”

I’m wondering if they bought Polyair to close it down and sell their product instead?

After I’ve done the technical comparison of the two products I’ve a clear view.

I wouldn’t go with their recommendation. I’ve found Polyair works well on floors even when nailed through; reflection works for cold and heat so I’m unsure about their reasoning; the long term effectiveness of batts (which is what the Optimo is) is less than the Polyair. And batts depend on the width of the batt being maintained which can’t be achieved in many underfloor applications where you’re limited by space or the design – e.g. timber over concrete.

Let us know what you do. Thanks for asking, Michael

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 22:32:54 +0000

Hi Michael

It seems like Bradford may have bought out this company (the website you listed redirects to Bradford). I spoke with them this morning and they are saying that its not for use with floors as its relying on the reflective nature of the product. They recommend their Optimo product for floor insulation. Your thoughts?

Chris

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:31:07 +0000

Rachel

The reflective / insulating Polyair works in winter and summer; wool and pink batts only work in winter (it has bubbles of air inside the reflective sheets – check out their web page. The difference is very noticeable. If you use reverse construction (design details in my book, Sustainable House) and in that include 30 mm of air/void you will live happily ever after in any part of Australia, even extremes of temperature such as Goulburn, the southern highlands of NSW, Victoria, Queensland – I’m not sure where you are building. Oh; you must also use a pale, reflective roof; check out Colorbond and other roofing websites for details.

By: Rachel Thomson

Rachel Thomson — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:00:00 +0000

I am so bamboozled about the best insulation to use for a new house we are building. I am doing so much research and can’t conclude the best.

Reflective sounds great. But wool to me appears to be a great insulator with low environmental impact when producing.

I’ve also come across Earth wool which sounds interesting?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I don’t know what to do?!

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:30:30 +0000

James; yes, that’s a good point and I agree the Polyair folk say to use bulk insulation with their product. I use it in cold climates where it snows or gets below zero a fair bit. Elsewhere – places from Sydney northwards, for example – I don’t use it. Instead, I use an air gap – air is free and a beaut insulater when integrated with the design – and allow at least 30 mm for the air gap (where you can run plumbing, electricals, too. In the second edition of Sustainable House there’s a detail for reverse construction (heat holding masonry or other inside, light ‘raincoat’ material on the outside); this works very well just with products like Aircell and Polyair. Thanks for a beaut question. The ratings for insulation like Aircell and Polyair don’t reflect how well they perform on site and I know a couple of folk who are going to get data for the field realities. Michael

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:29:45 +0000

James; yes, that’s a good point and I agree the Polyair folk say to use bulk insulation with their product. I use it in cold climates where it snows or gets below zero a fair bit. Elsewhere – places from Sydney northwards, for example – I don’t use it. Instead, I use an air gap – air is free and a beaut insulater when integrated with the design – and allow at least 30 mm for the air gap (where you can run plumbing, electricals, too. In the second edition of Sustainable House there’s a detail for reverse construction (heat holding masonry or other inside, light ‘raincoat’ materil on the outside); this works very well just with products like Aircell and Polyair. Thanks for a beaut question. The ratings for insulation like Aircell and Polyair don’t reflect how well they perform on site and I know a couple of folk who are going to get data for the field realities. Michael

By: James Robertson

James Robertson — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:03:07 +0000

Just a point:

The polyair product looks great, but their site definitely *doesn’t* recommend eliminating pink bats. In fact, their diagrams clearly show that the overall R value is much higher when both polyair and pink bats are combined.

Your thoughts on this?

Cheers, James

By: cathy x.

cathy x. — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:21:29 +0000

Hi! I just found your blog through a link provided on the CarriageWorks website. Very informative! Will be visiting regularly I think!