I have a small ranch house, built in the 1940's, and it is freezing in the
winter. I have the attic insulated, but there isn't a bit of insulation in
the walls. They are cold to the touch from the inside. Would it be worth the
cost and trouble to have cellulose blown in to the walls (the house has
aluminum siding)? Any ideas on the cost? The house is only 900 sq. feet,
so it shouldn't be a huge job. Any ideas? Thanks.

Steve

Stephen Hawkins wrote:

I have a small ranch house, built in the 1940's, and it is freezing in the
winter. I have the attic insulated, but there isn't a bit of insulation in
the walls. They are cold to the touch from the inside. Would it be worth the
cost and trouble to have cellulose blown in to the walls (the house has
aluminum siding)? Any ideas on the cost? The house is only 900 sq. feet,
so it shouldn't be a huge job. Any ideas? Thanks.

Steve

Your house is an excellent candidate for blown-in
(either cellulose or fiberglass).
The installers can do it all from outside by lifting
sections of siding.
The one potential problem is moisture condensation
in the insulation. The plaster walls don't have any
natural vapor barrier, allowing house moisture to pass
right thru where it condenses on the cold outer surfaces.
That not only defeats the insulation value but sets you up
for mold problems.

The vapor barrier can be added by applying paint to the
walls with a low permeability rating. Vinyl wallpapers will
work too.

As for cost, call some local installers; only they will know
what costs run in your area.

Couple links to start with:
http://hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/98/980508.html

http://www.cellulose.org/
Do some GOOGLING

Jim

Speedy Jim wrote in message ...
Stephen Hawkins wrote:

I have a small ranch house, built in the 1940's, and it is freezing in
the
winter. I have the attic insulated, but there isn't a bit of insulation
in
the walls. They are cold to the touch from the inside. Would it be worth
the
cost and trouble to have cellulose blown in to the walls (the house has
aluminum siding)? Any ideas on the cost? The house is only 900 sq.
feet,
so it shouldn't be a huge job. Any ideas? Thanks.

Steve

Your house is an excellent candidate for blown-in
(either cellulose or fiberglass).
The installers can do it all from outside by lifting
sections of siding.
The one potential problem is moisture condensation
in the insulation. The plaster walls don't have any
natural vapor barrier, allowing house moisture to pass
right thru where it condenses on the cold outer surfaces.
That not only defeats the insulation value but sets you up
for mold problems.

The vapor barrier can be added by applying paint to the
walls with a low permeability rating. Vinyl wallpapers will
work too.

As for cost, call some local installers; only they will know
what costs run in your area.

Couple links to start with:
http://hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/98/980508.html

http://www.cellulose.org/
Do some GOOGLING

Jim

Cellulose is growing in popularity in this area (northern OH) and I've just
had it put into a new house. In rooms with drywall already installed, it
gets blown in through small holes. It's dusty going in, but fast and simple
to do - took 2 days for the job for a 3000 sq.ft. house. The house has only
been through part of last winter, but it was comfortable as well as
remarkably quiet. We handled the vapor barrier with inside paint.

TKM

In article , Speedy Jim ruminated:
Your house is an excellent candidate for blown-in
(either cellulose or fiberglass).
The installers can do it all from outside by lifting
sections of siding.
The one potential problem is moisture condensation
in the insulation.

Most makers of cellulose do not recommend vapor barriers with
dense-pack cellulose unless the external wall temperature is going to
be below -15F. Seems that the dense pack already does an excellent job
as a vapor barrier due to the waterproofing that is applied to it as
part of the manufacturing process.

--
Eric Lee Green
http://www.badtux.org


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

Eric Lee Green wrote:

Most makers of cellulose do not recommend vapor barriers with
dense-pack cellulose unless the external wall temperature is going to
be below -15F. Seems that the dense pack already does an excellent job
as a vapor barrier due to the waterproofing that is applied to it as
part of the manufacturing process.

Eric, can you expand on that? Do the installers do "dense-pack"
with the typical blown-in-thru-small-holes kind of job?
Just curious,
Jim