Anchorage Home Rebuilt with Foam Insulation

Anchorage, Alaska - January 6, 2011 -- Habitat for Humanity helps people those who have lost their homes rebuild, employing volunteer labor to raise or renovate structures for families around the country. For the Kriger family in Anchorage, Alaska, the charity provided a brand-new home with donations from over 100 partners and more than 800 hours of volunteer labor.

The family was left without shelter after their mobile home burned down, leaving them without a place to live in the harsh Alaskan landscape, but the charity stepped forward to provide for the Krigers. Habitat for Humanity noted that the house is the first in the city to employ foam insulation technology, which encases the house in a heat-retaining layer that helps keep the the chill air outside. 

"It helps keep the house warmer," Jan Cawvey of Habitat for Humanity told the news station. "It will make the energy costs lower for the family. It also keeps the insulation on the outside so you have less vapors on the inside."

Spray foam insulation works best when it's designed as an integral part of a new structure, although with a bit more work, existing buildings can be retrofitted as well. One of the key physical properties of spray foam is its high R-value, a measure of insulation efficiency. Foam insulation offers R-values that can be twice as high as fiberglass or loose-fill insulation solutions.

Foam also expands as its applied, effectively sealing off any passage of air for drafts and heat loss.

# # #