Adding Insulation To Interior Walls

Achieving greater r values in exterior walls in exterior walls add insulating sheathing to achieve a greater r value in your wall system.

Adding insulation to interior walls.

Never insulate these cavities or plug their drain holes. Insulation in house exterior walls is one of the primary defenses against heat and energy loss. It is much less expensive to install than exterior insulation for existing buildings. Interior wall insulation in an old house.

Unfortunately however builders didn t insulate the walls of most homes built before the 1980s. The only option is to add insulation to the exterior or to the interior. Retrofit wall insulation is a debatable subject because there is no single right answer for all homes and homeowners. In some cases the cost of adding insulation may exceed the cost of energy needed to heat or cool it.

With a small hole and a pump you can insulate your existing walls with minimum fuss. There are various grades of insulating batting for different locations in the house so you ll need a different insulation for interior exterior attic or basement walls. If a house s attic or roof is already fully insulated adding insulation to the walls may be the single best way to reduce heating and cooling costs. The grade of batting will vary depending on the wall that you re insulating.

You can achieve better thermal performance in your attic by adding an additional layer of insulation. In an existing home adding insulation to the exterior of the basement walls is impractical. Most communities have building codes that require a minimum amount of insulation in a house s exterior walls and ceiling. So if your house was built before insulating walls became standard you can potentially save a great deal of energy by insulating.

Many solid walls including double brick walls see figure 7 1 have a small cavity generally less than 25 mm 1 in which is a drainage plane that collects and drains water out of the wall. As is the case with most remodeling projects many of this house s walls were going to remain intact so tom had to consider how best to retrofit the. Interior basement wall insulation has the following advantages. Conserve room area relative to installing insulation on the interior.

Fiberglass is a great way to insulate an existing wall. While fiberglass often comes in batts it does come in loose fill form as well making it easy to install without tearing open any walls. Insulating interior walls isn. Choose fiberglass insulation batting.

Most mooney walls use blown in insulation so that you get added r value from the depth of the horizontal interior strapping. Only a cost benefit analysis in relation to your own situation can help you arrive at the right answer. The r value of the batt measures the thermal resistance so the higher the r value the more effectively.