Safe & Energy-Efficient Hayward Healthy Home
11/06/2020
BUILDING A HEALTHY HOME WITH ECOBATT® INTEGRATED ROOF DECK
PROJECT CHECKLIST
The right insulation helped one contractor create a safe and cost-effective dream home.
LOCATION:
Unvented attic of a single-family residence in Carmel, Calif.
CHALLENGE:
Build an energy-efficient, healthy home free of contaminants found in traditional construction and insulating products.
PROJECT TEAM:
Bill Hayward, Hayward Healthy Homes and Hayward Lumber, builder and homeowner
Scott Kelly, building analyst, general and insulation contractor
THE CHALLENGE
Members of the Hayward family had experienced health issues in their previous house due to poor air quality. As a fresh start, Bill Hayward, builder and homeowner, wanted his family’s new home to be insulated with materials that would not only meet building and energy efficiency codes but also help create a safe indoor environment.
Hayward chose to design his family’s new house with an unvented attic and high-performance walls. However, knowing that traditional insulation and other construction materials could contain chemicals believed to be harmful
to humans, the Haywards wanted an insulation product that did not have any potential of affecting air quality within their house. The owners directed their contractor, Scott Kelly, to identify Red List-free products that meet new state building regulations.
THE SOLUTION
Kelly recommended EcoBatt® Integrated Roof Deck from Knauf Insulation because it offers the following benefits:- Red List-free product that contains approximately 61 percent recycled glass.
- Readily available and on the job site within a few days because EcoBatt® Integrated Roof Deck is produced at a Knauf manufacturing facility in Shasta, Calif., about 325 miles from the homeowner’s location.
- Suitable alternative to net and blowing wool insulation.
- Cost-effective material compared to spray foam and blowing wool insulation. Available in two types:
- R-19 6.25” x 24” x 48” for vented attics
- R-38 12” x 24” x 48” for unvented attics
- Lower labor costs, since EcoBatt® Integrated Roof Deck requires only six staples for each 2-by-4-foot batt, making it fast to install and easy to achieve a Grade 1 or Quality Insulation Installation (QII) every time.
The 24-inch-wide batts were installed in 22.5-inch roof truss cavities, which enables the fiberglass to envelop the top chord of the roof trusses. This design creates a continuous, uniform layer of insulation beneath the roof deck and provides a break to reduce thermal loss through the trusses.
Importantly, the glass wool met the homeowners’ requirement that all building materials be Red List-free. EcoBatt® Integrated Roof Deck is made using Knauf Insulation’s innovative ECOSE® Technology, a bio-based binder that contains no formaldehyde and is GREENGUARD® Gold Certified. In addition, Knauf Insulation was the first fiberglass insulation manufacturer to disclose its ingredients though Declare, and the only fiberglass insulation listed on the Living Building Challenge website.
While construction continues, the Hayward family looks forward to living in their new home and enjoying the healthy indoor air quality for many years to come.
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Kelly needed to find an alternative insulation material that was readily available, easily and quickly installed, and one that installers would be comfortable working with. There were three other challenges he had to keep in mind: |
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Avoid using spray foam or other products included on the Materials Red List compiled by the International Living Future Institute as part of its Living Building Challenge. |
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Meet or exceed CA 2016 Title 24 Energy Code requirements. |
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Minimize the possibility of construction delays that may have resulted from spray foam installation. |
Kelly and his crew installed the fiberglass insulation on the 3,400-square-foot roof deck in two days without delay or interruption of the other trades.
"We want to provide a healthy indoor environment for our family while also complying with California’s new energy code requirements with an insulation material that’s fast and cost-effective to install. EcoBatt Integrated Roof Deck checks all of those boxes for us and is the perfect solution for our family’s new home.”
— Bill Hayward, Hayward Healthy Homes and Hayward Lumber, builder and homeowner
LEARN MORE
Discover how to add EcoBatt® Integrated Roof Deck and other Knauf Insulation products to your next project.