Is bubble wrap a good insulator?

September 1, 2008 7:00 AM

I want to seal off the staircase to the third floor of my home to save on heating bills this winter. The rooms are used for storage only now. Is bubble wrap a good insulator? I would like to let light thru but keep the heat in. My home is an old Victorian with a winding staircase.
posted by boby to home & garden (8 comments total)

You could use plastic sheeting. It would be easier to seal than bubble wrap.
posted by lee at 7:55 AM on September 1, 2008

Bubble wrap might work, but I would suggest two layers of plastic sheeting, an inch or two apart (maybe on each side of the bannister). That would let more light through, and is probably more likely to remain in one piece (bubble wrap doesn't have a lot of tensile strength, and is likely to shred away from whatever attachment method you use). Your local hardware store or home improvement megamart should have rolls of clear plastic sheeting. Make sure you get one with some UV resistance, as the basic stuff degrades fairly quickly when exposed to UV, and while it may not shred down, it will probable fog up and/or get brittle. Whenever we closed off levels of the house we used blankets, but light transmission wasn't really a concern due to the arrangement of the staircase.
posted by jlkr at 7:56 AM on September 1, 2008 [1 favorite]

You might look into plastic sheeting or a tarp and make yourself an ad hoc storm window. Check your painting-supply section at your hardware store of choice. Cheap and effective. Nothing is going to be as efficient as simply walling up the opening, but any barrier is going to be better than nothing.

With that in mind, I don't know that bubble wrap would be more or less effective. On one hand, it tends to be pretty thin plastic, making it not only less durable, but less insulating. But on the other hand, it's got pockets of air all through it. On balance, I'd probably go with the sheeting option option, as it would let more light in and be much less likely to tear.

In either case, you aren't really insulating as much as you're preventing air exchange, and as that's a primary source of heat loss, you'll still wind up being better off.
posted by valkyryn at 8:04 AM on September 1, 2008

If the opening to the staircase is not too huge, buy some plastic shrink-film; they sell it for windows and for patio doors. You adhere it to the walls around the space you want to insulate, making sure you leave enough give so that it is not taut, and then you blow-dry (yes, blow-dry) the plastic until it stretches taut across the opening. I live in Chicago, right by the lake, so a cold winter day can be murder on heating bills (not to mention on whatever room I'm in). Since I've used the shrink-film on windows the bills have shrunk and my rooms are not subject to the whims of the weather.

You can see an example of what I'm talking about here: http://www.amazon.com/Henkel-120-Inch-Shrink-Patio-00-09123/dp/B000NHW2Z6
posted by tzikeh at 8:53 AM on September 1, 2008

If you have bathrooms on the third floor, make sure you're not creating a situation where the plumbing could freeze (I have no idea where you are or how cold it gets).
posted by HuronBob at 12:10 PM on September 1, 2008

Thanks for all the great ideas. I'm going to try the plastic shrink film and see how that works. I live in Boston and have always paid more for heat every winter.
This year I hope to stop that trend!
posted by boby at 4:07 PM on September 1, 2008

Do you shrink wrap the windows throughout your house as well? I would almost do that for the upper level windows before you seal it off, and then shrink wrap the windows throughout the house for additional savings!
posted by sararah at 4:51 PM on September 1, 2008

Bubble wrap does make a decent insulator, and some people use it for small green houses. The air bubbles in the middle act similar to double layer windows. Just make sure to get the kind that has bubbles between two layers of plastic, and not just bubbles stuck to one side of a sheet of plastic.
posted by markblasco at 8:01 PM on September 1, 2008