Insulateing My House

River Rat · Aug 15, 2007

I have just put on new siding and now I would like to insulate the walls of my home. Yes I should have done this before putting the siding on. " MISTAKE "

What do I have to do to get my insulation in the wall?
I should say if I do have insulation in the walls which I do and want to put more in the walls even if I have to blow it in what and how is this done?

I want to cut my heat bill in half if all possible.

Here is another question if I put R25 around the top of the footer the part that the house sats on will this help a great deal or ant it worth it doing this?
Right now there is no insulation at that point.

I did put two ( 2 ) Layers in the artic of R25 with that what was already there.

I have even throught about have a close door test done to see where I am loseing my heat. Is this worth the money spent?

Yes I have a new furnace.

Gary Swart · Aug 15, 2007

I would urge you to contact an insulation contractor and discuss with him the best way to proceed. I know you want to save money, but it has been my experience that professional insulators actually can do the job for about the same as a DIYer can. Besides the cost, you certainly want the job done right. My guess is they will advise you that removing the siding will give the best looking job, but get professional advise.

Sponsor · 2022-01-29T12:20:58-0800

Leejosepho · Aug 16, 2007

Gary Swart said:
I would urge you to contact an insulation contractor ...

Ditto. A reputable insulator has already been through the learning curve and knows plenty of tricks for getting the job done well.

Statjunk · Aug 16, 2007

If you don't want to remove the siding the alternative is to bore 1.5" holes between all the studs of your house and blow the insulation in through the hole. Then you'd have a lot of patching to do and painting after that.

I've actually seen a house like that. It was funny looking.

Tom

Frenchie · Aug 16, 2007

Doesn't have to be funny looking though. How good are you with the plaster knives?

Statjunk · Aug 16, 2007

The finished result wasn't funny. Seeing the house like swiss chees was funny. Every room had about 20 holes in it. A couple of places they went right throught the backs of the cabinets. Seemed like a lot of work to me. I never did ask them if thier bills dropped.

I would likely avoid that approach because I've experienced rooms that had lots of insulation but a small piece was missing and the room felt cold. Then we insulated that one section and the temperature climbed. Seems to me like insulation is all or nothing.

Tom

Jimbo · Aug 16, 2007

You can do a blower door test, but even without the test, we can list some of the biggest cuplrits:

electrical outlets on exterior walls
windows, if they are old style single glaze and poorly installed
door weather strips.
ceiling light fixtures are probably neither IC or AT rated

You can fix all these things. Insulating the walls will help a lot, but is the biggest chore among the others.

Spaceman Spiff · Aug 16, 2007

You can also remove a panel of vinyl siding fairly easily, drill the hole, blow, seal, and replace the panel. I've replaced a couple of pieces that way and it's not a big deal.

Leejosepho · Aug 16, 2007

statjunk said:
... they went right throught the backs of the cabinets ...

My son-in-law tells of a time he was blowing insulation into walls from the outside, and one cavity was not filling up. When he stopped and ended up taking a look inside the house, he discovered quite a pile of insulation on the kitchen floor. One of the overhead cabinets had no back or wallboard behind it, and the insulation had been too much for the catch on the door to contain!

Old Dog · Aug 17, 2007

hole repair...

I did a job in San Diego many years ago after they had blown in insulation.We installed crown molding in the rooms to hide where the home owner had "patched" the holes.(except the closets).Put oak veneer in the couple of cabinets they had drilled thru.
Looked great,hid the holes...but I personally don't like wide crown on 8' ceilings.

Jadnashua · Aug 17, 2007

You often need two holes to blow in insulation...many places have a fire break part way up the wall which would prevent you from getting insulation in the entire wall cavity. Cellulose works, but foam has more R-factor and you can probably use a smaller hole to inject it.

Bob NH · Aug 17, 2007

The first place to look when trying to save heat is infiltration around doors, windows, and other cracks and spaces. Doubling insulation in walls will not save 1/2 the heat loss.

The next place is loss through windows where you lose through both radiation and convection.

Geniescience · Aug 17, 2007

glad to hear this. You are right. I have had such a hard time explaining this fact over and over. Any hole is like letting sound through, or letting wind blow through. It's all about the airtightness, the quality of the work, the attention to detail, the never letting any air blow through. When cold winds blow in the winter, they press against the building envelope and air finds its way through any gap, no matter how small.

david

River Rat · Aug 17, 2007

jadnashua said:
You often need two holes to blow in insulation...many places have a fire break part way up the wall which would prevent you from getting insulation in the entire wall cavity. Cellulose works, but foam has more R-factor and you can probably use a smaller hole to inject it.

Does Cellulose come in R 19 or higher?

I have just put new windows in my house 11/2 years ago along with new doors.

Don't know where else to go to improve the heat saveings.
Put 2 layers of R 25 in the Atic.

The only place I did not put it is around the top of the footer, will this make a big differance?

Jadnashua · Aug 17, 2007

I don't remember the R/inch for cellulose. How much you'll get is dependent on your wall. Newer houses often have 2x6 stud walls; older ones are rarely bigger than 2x4's. You'd get more R factor per inch with foam, but it takes a qualified installer to keep from blowing out the walls. They'd need to use a low-expansion version. In new or open walls, they use a different formula, then actually cut it flush with the studs once it cures; can't do that in a closed wall.

Master Plumber Mark · Aug 17, 2007

cellulouse is trouble

the best stuff to use is the foam...

Iput the cellouse in my old house and the dust seemed to
seem out though every nook and cranney in the old plae...

if Ihad to do it over again I would have hired it
done with the foam type stuff...just to keep the dust level down.

Insulateing My House

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