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Originally Posted by Me
In a typical "tract" house neither one is all that important when compared to infiltration. Infiltration is the biggest heat loss in the USA.
I wish they would do a pressurized check of the houses built here as I have read about in Canada. Would get rid of a bunch of hack builders. In the study I read the average house in Canada has a hole the equivalent size of a basketball. The average American house has a hole the size of an 8x8 garage door!
Don't believe all the bs about R Factor, you can have all the insulation you want, makes no difference if the air is traveling around it. I have only 6" of old fiberglass in my attic and my heat bills are never over $70 in the coldest month. Think thermos.....
Bull, you need to keep mold in mind. Do sme research and make sure you are not making a mold colony. Its much easier to grow than it is to get rid of.
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Your absolutely right about the air leakage. That's were I tell my clients to start. I then walk them through showing all the typical areas. Air will move right through all insulation but foam. Without air sealing first in most cases all the insulation is doing is filtering the air movement just like the furnace filter.
I had a high end Builder here challenge me saying how great his houses are. After getting all information needed to model his house. I noticed he had about 30 pot lights installed along with pocket doors. I wish I had a camera when I saw his face after showing how much air leakage was coming from just those areas. Thats without going through the rest of the house. People don't realize that the interior of the house leaks just as much as exterior, unless it is air sealed properly. This is cheap and easy to do. If some is building it is a first cruicial step.