Putting Insulation In Old Walls

When considering new insulation installation or home retrofit insulation many dc area homeowners wonder if it s necessary to remove the old insulation first.

Putting insulation in old walls.

Rigid boards work best on exterior walls along with a vapor barrier. In a perfect world you would be able to unscrew invisible bolts remove drywall panels install insulation and reinstall the panels our less than perfect world of permanently attached wallboard means time consuming hacking away of gypsum individually removing drywall screws or nails installing r 13 or greater fiberglass roll insulation and re installing the drywall. I really don t want to tear all that out and open the walls. You can often leave old insulation.

So if your house was built before insulating walls became standard you can potentially save a great deal of energy by insulating. Before switching to spray foam insulation tom used to use polyisocyanurate panels that way he would build a 2x4 wall insulate between the studs with batting paper face removed then cover the whole thing with foil faced panels and seal them with foil tape before putting up wall board. I m doing a small remodel on a 100 year old home to use as rental property. So can you put new insulation on top of old insulation.

The grade of batting will vary depending on the wall that you re insulating. Most communities have building codes that require a minimum amount of insulation in a house s exterior walls and ceiling. I m not a big fan of blowing in insulation from the outside. Insulating interior walls isn.

The advantages of insulating interior walls. Can you simply add new insulation on top. According to the international energy conservation code iecc for your area mass walls ones made of thick block brick stone or adobe should be at least r 10. 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.

Fiberglass batts foam or cellulose can be used to insulate the interior walls. Walls both exterior and interior are the next area to insulate in a home. Adding 2 inch thick insofast panels will bring your walls to r 13 30 percent more than the iecc minimum. Unfortunately however builders didn t insulate the walls of most homes built before the 1980s.

The third area that needs proper insulation is the floors. The answer in many cases is yes. The walls have the original lath and plaster with 1 2 drywall over that. Your walls in their present state have an r rating of about 3.

Choose fiberglass insulation batting.