Trusted Home Inspectors in Spokane, WA

What zone are you in? nThe U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has recommendations for new and existing homes in relation to R-value. The insulation recommendations for ceilings, wood-frame walls, floors, foundation walls, crawlspace walls, and slabs have been increased overall and generally exceed those required by most building codes. nnThe DOE’s range of recommendations is based on comparing future energy savings to the current cost of installing insulation. You can use the map and tables in this section for new and existing homes as a reference guide for your inspection and evaluation of their insulation. If you observe insulation material used in layers, such as framing cavity insulation and insulating sheathing, the material can be summed to compute the component R-value.nnClimate zones (see map above) are used to determine applicable requirements in home energy efficiency design and construction. The basement walls, exterior walls, floor, roof, and any other building elements that enclose conditioned space or provides a boundary between conditioned space and unconditioned space is called the building thermal envelope.nnInsulation requirements by componentannCLIMATE ZONE CEILINGnR-VALUE WOODnFRAME WALLnR-VALUE MASS WALLnR-VALUEi FLOORnR-VALUE BASEMENTc WALLnR-VALUE SLABdnR-VALUEn& DEPTH CRAWL SPACEc WALLnR-VALUEn1 30 13 3/4 13 0 0 0n2 38 13 4/6 13 0 0 0n3 38 20 or 13 + 5h 8/13 19 5/13f 0 5/13n4 except Marine 49 20 or 13 + 5h 8/13 19 10/13 10, 2 ft 10/13n5 and Marine 4 49 20 or 13 + 5h 13/17 30g 15/19 10, 2 ft 15/19n6 49 20 + 5 or 13 + 10h 15/20 30g 15/19 10, 4 ft 15/19n7 and 8 49 20 + 5 or 13 + 10h 19/21 38g 15/19 10, 4 ft 15/19...