That may be one of the most common questions when it comes to energy efficiency. Through one source or another, most people have heard of R12… or R20… maybe R50. But what does it all mean? What is the right amount of insulation to have?
What is R12 Insulation? Simply put R12 is a type of insulation… or rather a level of insulation.
To fully understand R-values, you must first accept one fact: Heat Does Not Rise…
Heat does not rise… hot air rises. There is a difference. Hot air is moving air whereby heat is… simply put… heat. Here’s a way to separate the two that may help to understand. If you have a forced air furnace in your house, when the furnace comes on, it starts to blow hot air throughout the house. That hot air will rise. When the furnace eventually stops, that hot air will stop moving and the only thing that will now be happening is that heat will be moving to cold.
Heat Moves To Cold
So as heat moves to cold in the winter time (or our heating season) we lose heat and our house 
gets cold. We have to put insulation into our walls to keep the heat in… or in other words, we have to put resistance between hot and cold so that we slow the progress of the heat. The more resistance we put between hot and cold, the slower the heat will move to the colder area.
“R” stands for “Resistance” The higher the R Value, the slower heat will move to cold.
R12 is good, R20 is better, and R50 is fantastic!
Have fun… and remember one thing: It is always cheaper to insulate than it is to heat!
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John Chapin