Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine January 2026

HVACR NewsMagazine January 2026

Energy Talk

impact in the construction industry. The history of foam has been far from a smooth ride. I have witnessed million dollar homes pulled apart to address misapplication and reapplication to complete jobs only partially sealed. Early on there remained a learning curve and contractors were working fast and furious to complete one job after another. The bad jobs were mostly due to ignorance rather than negligence. For some in the construction and building science industry the jury is still out. Some builders that embraced foam early on have moved on to alternative methods. The most popular failing of foam application was not understanding the mandatory alignment of air and insulation barriers. Most often the poor performing jobs were tied to retrofit insulation or remodeled homes. On some occasions existing insulation was left in place offering an air path for air to enter the attic. In larger homes the foam was installed in phases and the process made it easy to overlook gaps in the envelope. Foam requires a one hundred percent air sealed envelope. Anything less and the foam fails to perform. Every home can be energy efficient. Without a doubt homes can be made more efficient, but the proper material installed in an ordered sequence is required. Unfortunately, the way homes are framed (wood studs, cripples, ceiling joists, door framing) have a lot to do with efficiency. Pier and beam construction is the most difficult to manage for efficiency. Encapsulating the crawl space,

upgrading wall insulation, siding, windows is followed by insulating the attic effectively. Framing on a slab cuts air infiltration in half back in the 195 0’s. Framing techniques for efficiency have only been popularized beginning around the last fifteen years and are just now having an impact on construction with wholesale adoption. So, if your home is twenty years old you must begin efficiency with door seals and sealing HVAC grills and where it enters the room behind the grill and making sure no thermal bypasses exist. Homes in hot and humid climates, where approximately 70% of the population reside, are subjected to rising wet bulb temperatures. Higher humidity translates into extra work for the installed HVAC equipment. Homes built prior to 2015 that have a combination of pier and beam with slab construction can be challenging to control humidity. As a last note beware of the contracting community that offers new siding and windows alone as a complete weatherization upgrade. While these products installed correctly can make a significant impact on the home, there are other issues that must be addressed. Older homes were designed to breath. When we upgrade these homes without a total assessment using cosmetic updates, we put the entire structure at risk. Highest efficiency AC for every home It is a common thought that every home should have the highest efficiency HVAC system available. The answer is much more complex. When trying to understand the need for efficient