Insulation North, LLC

08/03/2015

Long time no posting.... Hope everyone out there is doing well. Summer is well underway and construction season with it. We're glad to be busy--and look forward to continuing to serve everyone on the Iron Range. Keep an eye out by the way--following Ann's bakery business article in the Mesabi Daily News, we were contacted about our insulation business too--you should see us in the small business snapshot in the next week or two!

05/07/2015

We've hired a new advertising company. Here is the first piece by our little Aila!!

04/08/2015

We survived a busy weekend at the home show and enjoyed visiting with all the different people who swung by... Now I suppose it's time to get back to some of the informational posts we started. So, I suppose next up, how about my top three in terms of performance: 1) Blown cellulose - probably my first pick, not because it's the best in all categories, but because it's strong in all categories: Flexible for walls and ceilings, natural product, decent air stoppage, can store some moisture, good insulation value per inch, good at stopping sound, and slowing down fires--and inexpensive. 2) Closed cell spray foam - my second pick for excellent air sealing and very high insulation value per inch. It can be very flexible and be used in ways and places other insulation types can't. Main drawback is it's cost--one of the more expensive options at times. 3) Blown fiberglass - for the fact it mimics some of the qualities and abilities of cellulose, but it's lighter weight can be a benefit or a drawback depending on application. Touch more expensive, doesn't store moisture (again, could be a good or bad thing) and doesn't burn, although it will melt. Interestingly enough, it tends to let a fire spread faster than the cellulose because of that fact.
And how about on the bottom of the list.... If you can't guess already, it is almost always fiberglass batts. In all the categories and qualities I mentioned, they usually perform last. Their main benefits: cheap, no special tools needed to install, and easy to get.

03/28/2015

Hello Everyone, We will be at the Iron Range Home Show at the Miners Memorial building in Virginia through Sunday. Admission is free. Stop by and see us at our booth in the main area if you come by.

03/20/2015

Here's insulation part 2.....what are the options out there?
1) Closed cell spray foam - a harder foam where all the cell are closed to each other, making it stronger at stopping air and moisture. R6.2 to 6.8 per inch
2) Open cell spray foam - a softer foam where the cells are open, making it more open to air and moisture. Less expensive than closed cell. R3.6 per inch
3) Cellulose - recycled newspaper, etc. made into a fiber insulation, heavier than fiberglass, but used in similar ways. Usually comes in loose form and needs to be blown with a machine. Good middle of the road insulation - decent price, solid performance in most ways. R3.8 per inch
4) Fiberglass - glass made into fibers to form an insulation material. Can be batts or loose material blown in. Lightweight, but also prone to let a lot of air move through it. R3.2 per inch
5) Mineral wool - a fiber type insulation made of minerals...stone in other words. Feels and looks like fiberglass in ways, but denser. Not as common. R4 per inch approximately.
6) XPS foam board - the pink or blue stuff. Denser foam board with an R5 per inch.
7) EPS foam board - more like beadboard style foam. R3 per inch.
8) Polyiso foam board - foil covered rigid foam board like Thermax. About R6.5 per inch.

And there's more yet out there, but those are the most common ones currently. Hope that helps in some way!

03/16/2015

Hi, again... My latest thought for what might be useful information: What options are out there for insulation and how do they compare to each other? I figured I'd do this over a few posts, covering the options, cost differences, and performance differences. Hopefully the info is useful to some of you! So for today, here's part one to the beginner's guide:
First the shapes and forms-
Batts (a continuous piece of insulation--think typical fiberglass here)
Sheets (rigid foam boards usually in 4' x 8' sheets)
Loose (bales of material chewed up and blown with a machine)
Liquid -- as in spray foam applied as liquid that becomes foam
Of these all, batts are almost always the hardest to install properly and get the right result with...even if they are the most common product to buy and install yourself.
Feel free to leave a comment if this is useful, brings up questions, or whatever else you have in your mind. Or if I forgot something :)

03/08/2015

As promised earlier, here are the changes Minnesota has made to the energy code for new buildings:

Insulation Change Requirements:

Wall insulation - Minimum of R-21 cavity insulation. No exterior continuous insulation isrequired in the new code.

Attic insulation - Minimum of R-49

Foundation and crawl space insulation - Minimum of R-15 (although R-10 is allowed on edges and under heated slabs)

Window U Factors - 0.32 or better

Blower Door Tests- Every new home will need to pass a blower door test that allows no more than 3 air changes per hour
(WE do offer blower door testing by the way...)

03/04/2015

Just spent 2 days last week down at the 2015 Duluth Energy conference--always lots and lots of stimulating info and ideas. Big news from the conference this time was Minnesota's new energy code--no more sticking just an R19 batt of insulation in the walls. More insulation required in walls, in the attic, on the foundation, plus air leakage testing via blower door are all now required. I'll post some the info in the next couple days on the exact numbers in case anyone can use the information...

02/25/2015

Hey, everyone... Thought I'd pass along a video I found interesting in the past. Comments aside, from what I see of this test, the results are valid--and one of the reasons I like cellulose. Different products each have their place, but I think you'll find most often fiberglass batts do not perform as well as other products. That includes compared to blown in fiberglass--I'd rather see someone use blown fiberglass in walls and ceiling than batts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAPPn53JtHQ

"The Big Burn Demonstration" shows that fire-treated cellulose insulation can provide over 50% more fire resistance than traditional fiberglass insulation. S...

02/21/2015

Some of you might be wondering what we do by the way... Just in case anyone is: We can do blown fiberglass and blown cellulose in attics and walls, batts of insulation, closed cell spray foam, we can get you insulation products, help solve problems, new windows or doors--pretty much anything to help make your home warmer. You can read more on our website too--which we are growing as well: www.InsulationNorth.com Surprise, surprise--4 or 5 years has gone by since we added insulation work to our repertoire and we're coming up on 7 years total in business. Time flies!

- Serving the Iron Range and Northern Minnesota. -

02/20/2015

Thanks, everyone for "liking" us so far. We've finally gotten ourselves up and running on Facebook. Insulation North, LLC is our family business that is serving families and businesses in Northern MN. Our mission is to help you be more comfortable in your home or business and enable you to take all that money you were spending on heating and cooling....and use it on the things you'd rather be spending it on.... Especially if you've been spending a lot to stay warm, we'd love to try help you change that. We'd sure love your help in letting people know we are here to help--please spread the word. And even if people just have questions on what they can do--we'll do our best to help answer any questions anyone has.