Wall/Ceiling Insulation Melbourne

Hi Guys,

Can anyone help me in deciding the insulation in my new double storey west facing house.The builder is offering the following as standard:

• Minimum R1.5 Batts to external walls with foil wrap.
• Minimum R3.5 Batts to ceiling( I got colorbond roof with sarking and one whirling bird)

Apart from this I have already added R1.5 Batts to all internal walls.Do you guys think that is enough for the Melbourne cold weather and hot summer?

When i asked for the upgrade they said they can do the following(with extra cost ofcourse!)

• R 2.5 batts to external walls ( cost approx $1000)
• R6.0 to ceiling ($500 approx)

Is it worth going for them?Because they have already put a buffer in quote to make it 6 start rated.

Any suggestions will be highly appreciated.Thanks

P.S Our builder is Henley.

I am in Melb. Personally in my build (south facing house) I requested R2.5 acousti-therm insulation in the outer and most inner walls. And R6.0 insulation in the roof space. Plus sarking to walls and roof. Heating a house is expensive and I would prefer most of that energy staying inside the house rather than rapidly escaping out.
I would pay the extra as I think it is worth it in the cold Melbourne winter.

Thanks stanus for the reply.

Do you remember how much you paid extra for R2.5 acousti-therm insulation?

It came out to $7200. But it is a large house. And most internal walls will have it.

Hi Stanus,

Thanks for the information.It might go out of my budget but I will see if I can have this for Theater walls.

I just get to know the frame details of our house :

Pine – Studs – F5 HI – 90 X 45mm

Now, I was wondering if R2.5 batts will fit comfortably in it? Since they are generally 90mm thick(unless they are HD) and considering we have foil wrap around outside walls which (if I am not wrong) needs 25mm air gap.

Any suggestions will be highly appreciated.Thanks

Insulation R-Values mean nothing unless the insulation is installed effectively and consistently. 5% gaps can translate to a 30% degradation in R-value.
https://youtu.be/RqpsodzZ_mM
This video highlights.