Insulation for State homes

Press, 1 May 1980, Page 15

Insulation for State homes

As part of the government’s energy conservation drive the Housing Corporation has undertaken the massive task of insulating all its properties. The process has taken two years and the South Island has been given the greater proportion of the insulation budget.

The project has meant an enormous amount of organisation both from insulation contractors and from field staff of the Housing Corporation. More than 12,000 houses in the South Island have so far been insulated, almost 8000 of which have been in the Canterbury and West Coast areas. At one period during 1979 government-owned homes were being insulated at a rate 1 of 60 a day, giving their residents the benefits of the added warmth and comfort, as well as reduced heating bills, which insulation provides.

Tenders for the supply and installation of insulation material were called from all over New Zealand. Thermoseal New Zealand, Ltd, and Insulbest Services, Canterbury, Ltd, were successful in their bids and through their associated companies installed more than 90 per cent, of the insulation necessary.

The scale of the work was such that installation crews travelled throughout the South. Island, from Invercargill to Nelson, insulating everything from State houses to government offices. The material manufactured by both companies is similar in composition. Called “loose fill’’ insulation, it is manufactured from recycled newsprint which has been chemically treated to give it fire-resistant properties. That the insulation fluff is genuinely fire-proof is a demonstrable fact. A handful of material can be held under the flame from a blow-torch, hot enough to melt metal, without either heat transference to burn the hand or any damage to the fluff itself. The only effect is a slight blackening of the surface layer. The material - is manufactured in Christchurch a process which is relatively simple and inexpensive. The companies did. however, ’ have some difficulty in obtaining enough waste paper to meet the demands of the contract. At the height of the operation they were using more than both city newspapers produced everv day and old papers had to be brought in from the North Island. Although loose fill insulation is relatively cheaper than other forms

of home insulation, it is manufactured to meet the New Zealand Standards specification 1340 and therefore comes within the terms of the government’s two year interest-free loan of $2OO for home insulation. The companies concerned use sophisticated equipment which actually pumps the loose, fluffy insulation. which is dark grey in colour, into the ceilings of houses. This method allows even very low attic-spaces and inaccessible areas to be efficiently insulated. Once installed, the insulation remains light and fluffy, filling the gaps between the rafters to a depth of 10cm. The material is permanent and lasts for the life of the house. Loose fill insulation is not a new process. It has been available in New Zealand for the last fifteen years and even longer than that in the United States. In tests conducted by the M.E.D. and the Master Builders’ Association in 1969 this form of insulation was shown to provide a 36 per cent saving in heating requirements.