Evening star., 1935-01-26
AirCOnditiOning
Use of Insulation In Homes
Makes for Comfort
and Economy.
BY LAWRENCE TUCKER.

The use of insulation in the roof
and walls of a building Of any sort
is essential in maintaining proper air
conditions. During the present snow
fall one can easily pick out the houses
that are comfortable and easy to heat
by merely looking at the roof and
seeing how much snow has been
melted. The construction of the aver
age building is usually strong, air.
tight and waterproof, but not neces-
sarily heatproof. and every individual
who has to pay the fuel bills should
realize that heat will pass through
wood, plaster, slate or Shingling with
the greatest ease AS the owner
shovels coal on his fire, or the Oil and
gas burners consume fuel, the heat
passes up through the house, out
through the walls and roof.
During the Summer the situation is
reversed and the sun, beating down on
the roof and walls with temperature
of over 130 degrees during 80 or 95
degree day, quickly heats up the whole
house to almost an oven temperature.
There are a number of materials
available that have very high in
sulating value such as rock wool, and
various kinds of composition board
made Of pressed wood or asbestos.
They all have the inherent charac-
teriStic of being reluctant to allow
heat to pass through them, due to a
great number Of dead air cells, and if
the owner will line the walls and roof
of his house with a material of this
sort the valuable heat that is being
manufactured in the cellar will not
pass out and help warm the neighbor-
hood, nor will the sitting Summer
heat be allowed to enter.
Interior UndiSturbed.
Ingenious methods have been de-
vised to make it easy for these mate
rtalS to be placed in a building with
out disturbing the interior. The
makers of insulationS that are light
and have the consistency of wool are
equipped to blow this material into
the space between the outside sheath
ing and inside lathe and plaster wall
so that four-inch blanket of insula-
tion covers the whole house. The
space between the roof rafters or CELL
ing joists is also filled with the mate
rial, and the total insulating effect is
so complete that Is Is equivalent to q
wall Of solid stone IL feet thick.
To force this insulation between
the inner and outer walls it is merely
necessary to remove a board on a
clapboard house, remove a brick and
drill the sheathing on a brick house,
or drill small holes in the stucco
finish. A large blower is connected to
a long pipe and the wool insulation
is quickly pulled from the storage bin,
and forced into the air spaces around
the house.
New Material Used.
In new house construction it Is
very easy to pack a blanket of in
sulating material into the wall
structure as the building progresses.
This material comes in loose quanti-
ties of wool or in smaller easily
handled pieces. A new method using
aluminium foil with a shiny surface
is being used by Admiral Byrd in
Little America with great success. Its
AAoaAnSAA6 CACCL 10 OUIdiIl6Q ny IdQl-
atlng the heat back into the house
that would have otherwise passed on
through to the outside, and is being
used on many houses being built at
the present time. The walls and
ceilings can also be lined with COM
position insulating boards Of wood or
vegetable f1bers and the exposed sur
faces decorated with wall paper or
paint.
The hundreds Of home owners that
have used insulation of some sort in
their houses for many years have
found that they can save from 30
per cent to IS per cent in their fuel
bills, and sometimes as high as so
per cent and together with this
economic improvement, are able to
maintain more constant and health
1uI temperature in the house. In
many cases it has enabled owners to
make use of attic rooms that had
previously been unlivable for a good
many months Of the year, thereby
practically adding another floor with
only a moderate expense.