insulation

I am in the initial throws of renovating my Queenslander and have become confused and frustrated with looking for insulation for my floor. As I am building under my current home the majority of the floor will be clad in plaster. Insulating this would seem simple however there is a rather large area which would be open from below ( so nothing to stop gravity from working it's stuff) I have investigated DIY spray foam insulation But it seems that I can only get it from the USA and it would cost $1200 per canister X3 for my job plus import cost :o . So you can guess what I said after pulling my self off the floor. Dose anybody have any ideas for my problem or do they know of a cost effective suppler in Australia preferably QLD

G'day.

Welcome aboard.

If you have a look through this list, you'll see several discussions on the topic.

There is a heap of info on this forum already.

See how you go with it.

Thank you for the link cliff. tiger foam were the company that i was talking about. However there dose not seem to be any Australian companies out there.

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Originally Posted by bouwman4

I am in the initial throws of renovating my Queenslander and have become confused and frustrated with looking for insulation for my floor. As I am building under my current home the majority of the floor will be clad in plaster. Insulating this would seem simple however there is a rather large area which would be open from below ( so nothing to stop gravity from working it's stuff) I have investigated DIY spray foam insulation But it seems that I can only get it from the USA and it would cost $1200 per canister X3 for my job plus import cost :o . So you can guess what I said after pulling my self off the floor. Dose anybody have any ideas for my problem or do they know of a cost effective suppler in Australia preferably QLD

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There are people in Aust. that insulate piggeries with spray polyurathane insulation. Type piggery insulation in google and see what comes up.

Good on ya Baz, I knew you would know something. :2tsup:

You might also find silver foil concertina batts a useful alternative.....

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Originally Posted by SilentButDeadly

You might also find silver foil concertina batts a useful alternative.....

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I don't think heat and cold is the problem but sound deadening. Foil concertina is useless for sound proofing.

True. But Old Mate never mentioned 'sound deadening' as the purpose of the insulation.........that's an assumption on your behalf.

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Originally Posted by SilentButDeadly

True. But Old Mate never mentioned 'sound deadening' as the purpose of the insulation.........that's an assumption on your behalf.

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Yes I did make that assumption based on the fact that it is under the house as I can't see the point in insulating the floor against heat and cold on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland and if he is closing it in I would think that he is more concerned about sound transference underneath but unless he states what his purpose of the insulation neither of us will know which is the best.

Given my years of experience in the Insulation and Building Industry I'm not impressed with the performance of foil batts but most of them sag and collapse after several years and become ineffective.

thanks everybody for all of your responses. I am most impressed with your knowledge and desire to participate in discussions.
I am sorry that I did not specify the main reason for my request and thus I will now attempt to redress this issue. My main concern is for sound transfer from my new downstairs area through to the original level upstairs. This will be quite a concern as my two teenage girls will be housed in the new downstairs area and do make some noise. Furthermore I need advice on the non-enclosed area at the front of the original structure where cold and draft are a concern ( yes I here you say, "cold on the sunshine coast". Well I live in the hinterland and it gets quite wet and chilly up here in da hills". But draft is of greater concern to me at this stage as this chills off the living area quickly.

Sound reducing insulation is directly related to the density of the insulating material. The denser the material the more resistance to sound and the lower the transmission. So lead sheeting would be the best - but very costly and highly impractical for anything other than specialised commercial or military uses. Well gold would be best, but . . . :o)

It seems like you will be lining the underfloor as a ceiling for the area where your daughters will be and to protect from heat loss as well as reducing sound transference.

For underfloors like this a couple of options are available: you can insulate between floor joists with RockWool batts - using the thickest that will fit in the gap. It is denser and more sound retardent than the fibreglass and other insulating batts. It should fit and hold itself up until you enclose it with plaster board, but sometimes you need to staple plastic holding tape to retain it. You could use polystyrene panels such as IsoBoard, but although good for heat/cold it is less effective for sound.

For the plasterboard there are specialised sound retardent boards that have lead sheeting on one side, but very expensive. A better choice is to use 13 mm Boral Plasterboard - SoundSTOP® - Produced in 10mm and 13mm thicknesses, Soundstop plasterboard was specifically developed for use in high-performance acoustic wall and ceiling systems not requiring fire-rating. SoundSTOP® plasterboard is utilised in QuiteZone®, CinemaZone®, PartiWALL® and other proprietary systems.board rather than the std 10 mm board.

I reckon the best choice is two layers of standard 10 mm plasterboard with the Rockwool in the gap between the floor and the plasterboard. I have used this successfully between rooms where I had 20 mm of plaster board on each side and the space filled with Rockwool to insulate out my son's music production noise from the adjacent room. This was cheaper than using a single layer of the 13 mm SoundStop board, but you should check that. If you are doing the labor then that would lessen the cost too.

The first layer of board can be glued and screwed to underside of joists and needs no filling - the next layer should be screwed only. You need to mark the screws so you do not hit those on the first layer.

There is some good information on sound insulation here:

http://www.boral.com.au/Article/Plas...es=&site=Boral

As you will see from the table you get an increased density by double sheeting with 10mm - more with std 13mm board - over the soundstop product.

But more fussy and maybe more costly.

As with all insulation for heat or sound any gaps or leaks have quite large impacts on how effective are the results.

Hope that helps.