I live in the Midwest US and this may be the first of a few questions
this week as I remodel the bathroom.

While ripping out the crooked, old, decrepit, pink ceramic wall tile in
my bathroom I found the source for my heating-bill woes. There's
hardly any insulation in the exterior walls (ceilings are more or less
ok). This is a job I would hire out. I'd like to know for the purpose
of planning my finances, whether this is a $1500 job or a $5000 job,
just a ballpark guess, but there's a twist that worries me.

The house is a 50 year old ranch with full brick exterior walls, and
the exposed badly-insluated perimiter is about 130 feet. I'm assuming
a contractor would drill holes and blow something in to fill the
cavity. This is where the details get a bit excruciating and I hope
this makes sense.

The walls, starting outside and working in, are

- a layer of traditional red brick
- a layer of some fiber-board stuff about half an inch thick
- about an inch of air
- a layer of insulation literally one inch thick [fiberglass with an
interior backing layer that is silver]
- about 1.5" of air
- sheetrock.

The twist to this is that the one-inch-thick insulation was made to be
stapled up in such a way as to leave a pocket of air on either side of
it - basically if you're looking down from above it's a thin insulating
layer in the middle of the air pocket between the studs.

Each 'X' in the picture shown, taken from above, is a stud, the hyphens
mark the insulation layer:


X---------------X---------------X---------------X---------------X---------------X


Can blown-in insulation be done so as to fill up both air gaps - the
one closes to the bricks as well as the one behind the thin layer of
fiberflass ?

Thank you !

wrote:

I live in a similar style house in the mid-west. Based on the
information supplied by out local electric company website (below) I
decided to ignore the walls and spend more on insulating the ATTIC,
DOOR SEALS, WINDOWS SEALS, and spaces between the RAFTERS in the
basement. I will let you know next spring as to the results These
are things you can do yourself (on your own time-table).

I am not ready to have people drill holes in the wall, plaster the
holes and repaint every room.

"What is the R-Factor?

The R-Factor is an insulating material's resistance to heat transfer.
The thicker the insulation, the higher the R-Factor, the more energy
efficient the application.

The R-Factor value you need depends on where you live, your utility
rates and your existing insulation. In general, use R-30 for attics;
R-13 for walls and R-19 over ventilated floor spaces and crawl spaces.
Most labels list the R-Factor on the bag or batt along with the number
of bags or batts required per 1,000 square feet of attic floor area,
the number of square feet covered per bag and the thickness you should
have upon job completion.
Where to Insulate

Your attic, walls, basement and switch plates on exterior walls are
four key areas to insulate. Areas not heated or cooled should also be
insulated.

Attics-The average home loses 33 percent of its heat through the
attic. Save up to 15 percent on your heating and cooling costs by
insulating to R-30 or better.

Walls-Walls account for up to 27 percent of the heat loss in the
average home. Insulate to R-13 or better and save up to 14 percent on
your energy bills.

Basements-Install better insulation between your floor joists or
place R-19 over unheated/uncooled areas and save up to 13 percent on
your heating and cooling costs."

best Kent

Interesting. I have 1 inch of fiberglass insulatio in the walls, and
several inche sin the attic. Last January my gas bill was $400. I
also have 1949-era single-pane aluminum windows. I think covering the
windows will help but my real probelm (sicne I have no basement - just
a slab) is the walls.

I think you need to make an energy/insulation plan IF your planning to
stay in that house for any considerable period of time. It is not only
time intensive but costly to correct all of your issues. Even so, if
your going to live there 5+ years you can easily get your money back
and then some with the updates. Energy is only going to get more
expensive as the years go by.

For example:
First bring attic insulation up to R30
Replace leaking windows OR buy storm windows. (Personally the windows
work best.)
Make sure there are no leaks/holes in the house (I found three serious
leaks in my home inspection and sealed them with inexpensive thermal
expanding foam)
Investigate wall expanding foam options: http://www.tigerfoam.com/
(this I have not done yet.)
The Walls would be my last choice.
You might see if your electric company offers a "thermal" inspection.
They use a special camera which shows your energy leaks.

best


wrote:
Interesting. I have 1 inch of fiberglass insulatio in the walls, and
several inche sin the attic. Last January my gas bill was $400. I
also have 1949-era single-pane aluminum windows. I think covering the
windows will help but my real probelm (sicne I have no basement - just
a slab) is the walls.

On 10 Oct 2006 19:32:04 -0700, wrote:

Interesting. I have 1 inch of fiberglass insulatio in the walls, and
several inche sin the attic. Last January my gas bill was $400. I
also have 1949-era single-pane aluminum windows. I think covering the
windows will help but my real probelm (sicne I have no basement - just
a slab) is the walls.


Get someone to take an infared picture of the house,
and insulate wherever you're loosing the most heat,
first.

I found this site and it sounds almost too good to be true
but.....might be worth researching.

http://www.insuladd.com/index.htm

Sounds like an inexpensive way to deal with your walls?/house?

wrote:

I live in the Midwest US and this may be the first of a few questions
this week as I remodel the bathroom.

While ripping out the crooked, old, decrepit, pink ceramic wall tile in
my bathroom I found the source for my heating-bill woes. There's
hardly any insulation in the exterior walls (ceilings are more or less
ok). This is a job I would hire out. I'd like to know for the purpose
of planning my finances, whether this is a $1500 job or a $5000 job,
just a ballpark guess, but there's a twist that worries me.

The house is a 50 year old ranch with full brick exterior walls, and
the exposed badly-insluated perimiter is about 130 feet. I'm assuming
a contractor would drill holes and blow something in to fill the
cavity. This is where the details get a bit excruciating and I hope
this makes sense.

The walls, starting outside and working in, are

- a layer of traditional red brick
- a layer of some fiber-board stuff about half an inch thick
- about an inch of air
- a layer of insulation literally one inch thick [fiberglass with an
interior backing layer that is silver]
- about 1.5" of air
- sheetrock.

The twist to this is that the one-inch-thick insulation was made to be
stapled up in such a way as to leave a pocket of air on either side of
it - basically if you're looking down from above it's a thin insulating
layer in the middle of the air pocket between the studs.

Each 'X' in the picture shown, taken from above, is a stud, the hyphens
mark the insulation layer:


X---------------X---------------X---------------X---------------X---------------X


Can blown-in insulation be done so as to fill up both air gaps - the
one closes to the bricks as well as the one behind the thin layer of
fiberflass ?

Thank you !