At the recent BIBCA training on June 11^th-13^th in Denver, Kelly Parker of Guaranteed Watt Savers and past president of Resnet was one of the speakers. He explained to the group about how knowledgeable, trained insulators are going to be in large demand now and in the future. Building codes are changing, all are looking for higher R-values and attention is being placed on air sealing and home testing. There are not many people across the country right now that are air sealing and insulating existing homes to make them more energy efficient and there are well over 100,000,000 homes that need attention. Tremendous opportunity. This does require some training to do it right and provide a good service for the customer and reduce  liability. When you throw in the rising cost of energy, environmental issues, the government incentives, and mandates being put on energy providers, there is going to be tremendous drive to fix existing housing.

 As the building codes change builders will need more options as to getting higher R-value and doing it cost effectively. Hybrid systems like BIBS HP will probably become more common.  The problem with these systems is they are more complicated and correct installation becomes more important. BIBS is already a class one insulation system with a high R-value for a low price so combining it with a good air sealing job it is very good but one of the techniques for improving the system is to add rigid foam board on the outside of the studs. This foam is continuous insulation creating a thermal break, and raises the dew point of the sheathing in colder climates. The building science people really like this application, and in my market area 1.5” of rigid foam plus BIBS in the cavity provides an R-30.5 wall for the same or less money than open or closed cell foam. One thing that always must be addressed with these more complicated wall systems is they can be climate specific and it can become hard to know what to do about vapor retarders and exterior and interior air barriers. Certainteed has building scientists that can analyze wall assemblies and give you an opinion on what will work. Contact your area Certainteed representative and he can contact the right people. This is a great service!

          Another aspect of changing codes is the area of home testing. Blower door testing and thermal imaging will become used more. Kelly encouraged everyone to get to know the local Resnet rater or become one. The Resnet training is among the best in the country for understanding building science and using it for old and new homes. Some areas in the country are going to require home testing for selling homes and other areas are going to go to testing as part of the final home inspection on new homes. Resnet testing is another business opportunity, and again training is required. Home testing is on the brink of exploding, so like it or not, someone will be doing it in your area.