Insulation works as a barrier to heat transfer, helping to keep out unwanted heat in summer and preserving precious warmth inside your home in winter. It can also help soundproof your home from unwanted airborne noise transfer.
In fact, a well insulated home can stop up to 70% of all heat flow through the ceiling, walls and floors. To understand how insulation does this, it helps to know how heat can move in and out of your home.
How heat transfer works
There are three main types of heat transfer:
1. Conduction
Heat is transmitted through the materials of your home, such as the roof and walls. For example, when you place a pot on a stove the inner surface heats the food, because the heat is conducted through the base of the pot.
2. Radiation
These are rays of heat moving through the air in the same way as we feel the heat from the rays of the sun on our faces. It’s the way your grill works, transferring heat to the food without touching it.
3. Convection
Convection occurs when air molecules themselves heat up and move to another location. In the same way as a convection oven directly heats the air and then blows it around the food, so air can transfer heat in and out of your home.
How insulation stops heat transfer
Bradford Gold insulation is made up of very thin glass fibres that are matted together to form millions or air pockets. These air pockets are very poor conductors of heat and resist the flow of air or radiation through the insulation. 
This ‘resistance’ is known as the R-Value. The higher the R-Value the more effective the insulation is.
Bradford EnviroSeal is also a very effective barrier to radiant heat. It is made with a reflective foil surface which reflects up to 95% of the radiant energy, in much the same way as you use foil to stop food burning in your oven.
With government rebates now available for ceiling insulation, there's never been a better time to insulate your home.
Soundproofing your home
Doctors and psychologists agree that noise has the ability to raise stress, disrupt sleep and generally reduce your quality of life.
These days, there is more external noise – as traffic and housing density increase. Even within our homes, trends such as open plan living, harder surfaces (e.g. timber floors), and more powerful entertainment systems increase the noise levels.
How sound is transmitted
Sound travels easily through the air. When sound waves reach a solid surface they are partially absorbed, but they also cause vibrations that can transmit sound to the other side.
In this way, external noise is easily transmitted through walls and ceilings to the inside of your home. Additionally, noise generated from within your home can be transmitted through internal walls, and even floors, to adjacent rooms.
How insulation helps
Bulk insulation materials such as glasswool and rockwool act like a sponge to help soak up sound energy. When the sound waves encounter the insulation they are partially deflected by the density of the product and partially absorbed due to the millions of interconnecting air pockets.
Insulation products such as reflective foil or foams with hard surfaces are poor noise insulators.
Bradford SoundScreen Plus is made from rockwool, which has a similar structure to Bradford Gold insulation, but is much denser. This extra density makes SoundScreen particularly efficient at stopping noise, as well as heat transfer within your home.
Measuring sound
Sound pressure is measured in decibels (dB), which is a logarithmic scale. A 10dB increase in sound level is heard as roughly double the loudness of the original sound by the ear. Sound levels between 35dB – 45dB are generally considered comfortable.
The acoustic performance of a wall or floor system is measured by the Weighted Sound Reduction Index (Rw). It is a single number acoustic rating that takes into account the sound reduction of the system at a number of different frequencies and is used to easily compare different types of construction. The higher the Rw the better the acoustic performance of the system.
Controlling sound in your home
Installing SoundScreen Plus in external walls and ceilings will not only provide excellent thermal insulation, it will also help reduce noise entering your home from external sources. Combined with door and window seals it provides an excellent defence against airborne noise.
SoundScreen Plus also allows you to create “quiet zones” within your home. Including SoundScreen Plus in interior walls can reduce sound transfer through a typical plasterboard wall by 6dB. By installing SoundScreen around bedrooms, bathrooms, laundries and home theatres you can enjoy peace and quiet where you need it most.
Noise can also transfer between the storeys of your home. Installing SoundScreen Plus in upper storey floors helps ensure the sound of the home theatre won’t disturb your sleeping little angels.