Dive summary:
- Slab on grade is the common house foundation in the part of Texas where builder Matt Risinger works, and he describes it as essentially "a big rock of concrete," but Risinger says he has determined that it makes sense to wrap the rock in foam insulation.
- As houses become more energy efficient, an un-insulated slab remains a place to lose heat and becomes a bigger part of the problem.
- In a recent remodeling job that included several improvements including R-11 slab insulation, calculated heat loss shrank from 36,223 Btuh to 24,994 Btuh, and the slab's contribution to the loss went from 26% of the higher number to 7% of the reduced one.
From the article:
As we build tighter and better insulated houses the uninsulated slab becomes more of a heat loss in the winter time for these High Performance Homes. ...
