There are various products you can use to insulate walls on a new build. Wall batting is a popular product here. This soft material provides both thermal and acoustic insulation and is usually non-combustible. While you can buy this kind of insulation in rolls, you can also buy it in a panel form. Here, you buy a pack of pre-cut batts of a certain size. What are the advantages of choosing panels for this job?
1. Ease of Installation
If you buy rolls of batt insulation, you have to cut the roll to shape before you can fit it to your wall. While this isn't a hard job, it does take time. You'll have to measure the space precisely to ensure you get full coverage before cutting the roll into appropriately sized pieces.
Panel batts are pre-cut. Each batt is a specific size and width. All you need to do is to open the pack, take out a panel and put it where it needs to go. This is a much faster and simpler installation process.
2. A Snug Fit
While it's easy to cut batten roll insulation, it's also easy to misjudge cuts so you don't get the exact right size every time. Sometimes, your lengths might be a bit short for the wall; they don't fit exactly right. Plus, as you work on the roll, you may squash some of it. It might become a bit dense in parts rather than loose and fluffy all over.
To get full thermal and acoustic insulation benefits, you need to cover the whole wall space. You also need the insulation to be a uniform thickness. This is far easier to achieve with batt panels. As long as you pick the right size for the space, they'll fit together snugly with full coverage. Your reduced handling time and their slightly more rigid structure also ensure that they stay in the right shape all over.
3. Less Waste
If you cut insulation from a batt roll and make a mistake, then you could end up wasting some of the material. Cut a length too short, and you may need to throw it away and start over. Cut one too long and you'll waste the excess that you have to cut off to get it to size. You may have to buy more insulation than you actually need to compensate for mistakes. If you buy ready-cut panels, then this isn't an issue. You simply buy enough panels to fill the wall.
To learn more about batt panels, ask a wall insulation service for advice.
