Polystyrene Insulation R Value Per Inch

It also is the least expensive.

Polystyrene insulation r value per inch.

Material costs are about 0 31 per square foot for each inch of thickness plus installation costs. Because rigid foam plastic insulation products are not all aged in accordance with the same standards it is useful to publish comparison r value data. Expanded polystyrene insulation is similar to the foam used for packing peanuts and it s typically used for insulated concrete forms also knows as icf s. For instance if the specified insulation has an r factor of 3 8 and you are using 3 5 inches of insulation the r value is 13 3.

Also called styrofoam insulation this is the least expensive material. Additional r value for a masonry wall constructed using these materials needs to add the insulating value of additional wall components typically included such as 1 solid foam polyisocyanurate r 8 extruded polystyrene r 5 expanded polystyrene r 4 or 1 of perlite r 2 7 and for an exterior air film winter no wind r 0 17 an interior. The conclusions of r value performance are quoted below and shown in figure 1. Each type comes with unique advantages.

The r value for foamular xps insulation is provided from testing at two mean temperatures 40ºf and 75ºf and from two aging conditioning techniques 180 day real. The connor study test results indicate a rapid drop in r value per inch for eps in the first five years in service with in service r values per inch ranging from 3 13 to 3 70. The time of testing. Expanded polystyrene made from expanded foam beads that are molded into shape expanded polystyrene or eps is ideal for above grade applications such as exterior walls and offers an r value of 3 6 to 4 2 per inch.

For a 1 in thick 4 8 panel comes unfaced or with a number of different plastic facings. Eps is suitable for ground contact and can be treated to resist. Eps has the lowest average r value of the three most common types of rigid foam insulation around r 4 per inch. It provides r values that range from 3 6 to 4 2 per inch.

Products with a higher r value have a higher cost but have an increased capacity to resist heat flow and therefore provide greater insulation. Expanded polystyrene foam eps is the cheapest and least used foam board product on the market. The thermal conductivity k of a material is expressed as the rate of heat flow in british thermal units per hour. Expanded polystyrene eps eps is the insulation used most widely in insulated concrete forms and structural insulated panels sips.