Insulation Blues!

When we built our house at the end of 2006, Rob asked the builder to please make sure that we had the best insulation possible in the roof. We had 'Think Pink' in Jo'burg and it was fantastic, so we wanted to use the same thing here. With the chromadek (tin) roof and the high wooden ceiling, there was limited space to put insulation, so it had to be the best.

Yes, well. Our builder had other ideas and showed us the 'very latest' in roofing insulation. What did we know? He brought a piece of what looked like cooking foil, thin, silver and obviously cheap and cheerful. Now, remember that this is the same man who, after fiddling very unsuccessfully with the fireplace and chimney to stop the lounge filling with smoke when we lit a fire, declared that he knew exactly what the problem was.....it was our neighbour's roof.

We should have known better!!

Anyway, every summer the rooms upstairs become like ovens as the sun beats onto the tin roof, straight through the 'tin foil' and heats the air like a popcorn machine. In winter we have the opposite and once we leave the warmth of the lounge and the stove, every step we take up, is in direct proportion to the plunging of the temperature, so our bedroom is freezing.

The Intrepid Team ready to go!!

Finally Rob had enough and found a chap in Cape Town who could (and would, and did)  sort it! We had visions of them taking off the entire roof, laying the insulation and then replacing the metal sheets, hopefully without then having leaks!! But no, they had done a lot of  fixing-upping and knew exactly how to work with our problem. They made a date and time and they arrived! (Sadly for Rob it was exactly over the time he was up all night helping with the curry making, so was not able to catch up on some sleep during the day!)

Slip sliding away!! Efficient and fast.

And fix it they did!

Quickly and efficiently. They whipped off the odd sheet of roofing, tucked and slid the insulation between the remaining roof and ceiling, and replaced the sheet.

This twiddly bit caused a few hassles, but they managed.

And voila!!! From the minute the roof was back on, we noticed a huge difference in the temperature inside. Amazing!

Here is some info on the product. I was most impressed by the re-cycling of plastic bottles:

The specs on Isotherm insulation are as follows.
· Isotherm insulation is one of the most eco-friendly insulation products in the world today.
· The insulation is a polyester base product so it is soft and smooth to touch and has no loose fibres.   
 .The insulation itself is dust free and has a great fire rating class b/b/2. This means the product will not burn on its own if you have a fire in the roof. Isotherm will not allow the spread of flames by burning on its own.
· Isotherm is manufactured by using recycled plastic bottles. As we know, plastic bottles left in the environment will take up to 1000 years before they bio-degrade. Of all plastic bottle pollution only about 21% of this pollution is being recycled at present.
· The insulation also carries a 30 year manufacturer guarantee so for this reason it has become one of our most favourite insulation products.
· Chemical-free safe to use insulation that is manufactured from what would otherwise be pollution for many generations is an absolute winner.
· The application on your home was to remove panels about 3mtrs apart and feed the insulation through. This makes the house much cooler in summer and much warmer in winter. This has been the reason that the new Sans legislation came into effect as of January 2013. All new homes in South Africa must have insulation achieving an R-value of 3.70. This is all homes where plans are passed after the 1st January 2013.
· For more info on the product you are welcome to check out our website www.isotherminsulation.com

Warm and ready for anything!

And check the pic above...up-cycling for a winters day!!

I can see a whole winter range in the shops soon!!