what is the point of using high R value insulation in your building if the wood studs throughout have a poor R value.

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Wouldn’t your insulation effectively work like Swiss cheese?

Edit: while I have your attention, would you bother insulating a detached building that is NOT temperature controlled 24/7 like a house? It’s a hobby workshop. My thought process is that the insulation would only be paying it self off in the winter + while I’m in it + after whatever amount of energy I would have spent heating it WITH insulation. To me it just seems like the break even would be sooo far in the future…

Edit Edit: I’m not so concerned about the summer. I have a couple ceiling fans and a few attic/gable fans that help dissipate heat.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Yes the r value of a wooden stud is poor, however that stud isn’t the only thing that makes up a finished wall. You have the drywall touching it, the exterior plywood, the sheathing, and exterior siding. Overall from interior wall, through the stud, to the outside air is about an r value of 8. Coincidentally that’s the code requirements for most modern buildings.

However going higher does help with overall energy efficiency because you can calculate heat lost as a property of surface area over time. If more surface area is more insulated then you lose less energy overall.

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