I was recently chatting with a neighbor who asked, " We love our 100 year old home. However, it sure is a drafty old place! We're interested in blowing insulation into the walls, what do you think Bob?"
Let me start by saying, if you live in an old house you are part of a large group of plaster dust lovers. I have great respect for and kinship with people choosing to live on tree-lined streets full of unique old homes with character.
Having said that, it's time for an old house reality check. If your goal is to continue loving your old house, make it energy efficient while keeping your costs down, then you absolutely don't want to blow insulation into the sidewalls.
One of the top reasons for exterior paint failure, termites and structural damage to old houses is insulation blown into the sidewalls. "Hey, wait a minute Bob, if we can't insulate the sidewalls, how can we afford to heat our old house?" That's a valid question but you need to think of air movement in your house as if the house were a chimney. Heat loss primarily happens in an upward movement. So, I want you to insulate your attic space to an R-38 with eave ventilation. You should also friction fit craft-faced (paper faced) fiberglass batting- insulation or foam board into the box sills in your basement (the area where the beams or floor joists rest on top of the foundation). The craft face acts as a vapor barrier and should face the inside.
Building codes today require that when a new house or addition is built, it must have a vapor barrier. When a new house is going up, they frame the sidewalls and install exterior sheathing. The next step is to go inside and install fiberglass, batting insulation between the 2" x 4" or 6" studs. Before the drywall can be installed over this wall, 4 mil thick plastic sheeting must be laid over the insulation on the entire wall. That plastic sheeting acts as the vapor barrier.
We create warm moist air in our homes by cooking, taking showers, having plants, breathing etc. That warm, moist vapor is attracted to the exterior walls. This vapor enters the wall through hairline wall cracks, outlets, switches and window trim. In new construction, the plastic vapor barrier under the drywall stops the wet air from getting to the insulation and condensating.
In old houses with plaster walls, there is no vapor barrier under the plaster so the wet air hits the insulation and condensates. This wets down the blown-in insulation making it a wet mass at the bottom of the wall cavity creating an inviting place for termites and dry rot. Then the moisture enters the exterior sheathing and wood siding causing permanent exterior paint failure. Since the homeowner, for some "unexplained" reason, can't keep paint on the house anymore, they call the vinyl siding salesman. This makes the problem even worse as you now have a vapor barrier on the outside of the wall that stops the free exchange of air, trapping the moisture.
The other factor that must be examined is payback. Lets say you spend $4,000 to have your old house walls insulated. In my experience you would probably save about $200 per year on heating and air conditioning costs. So, it would take twenty years to recoup the money you spent on the insulation. Results and pricing can vary and this doesn't take into account the termites, dry rot or paint failure.
I've inspected thousands of old houses with blown-in insulation and over 80% of them have this wet insulation problem.
If your house is drafty then tighten it up. Weather-strip your windows and doors, keep the house painted/caulked well, insulate the attic and box sills. This will stop the air infiltration, make you more comfortable and really save money on utilities.
For those who have already blown insulation in their old homes, it can be removed. You'll need to remove several courses (rows) of siding and sheathing from the bottom of each side of the house as well as above the windows and doors. Just pull out the wet mess, let the wall dry out for a while and re-install the siding and sheathing.
You can also try to create a vapor barrier with special interior, vapor barrier grade paints. The effectiveness of the paints is severely limited and you'd still have to caulk all the window trim, outlets and switches. If you do this you'll also want to take the 1" diameter plastic plugs out of the siding. This is where they drill those attractive holes in the outside wall to blow-in the insulation. Replace them with screened and louvered 1" diameter vent plugs. You can buy these at lumberyards. This will allow the wall cavity to dry out once the wet insulation is removed.
Again, the primary issue for energy efficiency is stopping air infiltration. There is no reasonable payback to blowing insulation into your sidewalls. This practice has truly been the ruination of many of our historic central city homes.
For more information go to www.nps.gov and look for Preservation Briefs on insulation. This is the site of the National Park Service.
- Bob Yapp's blog
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I'm from Buffalo so insulating is a priority as earlier stated. When we purchased our home we were forced to gut certain rooms rooms due to mold, water damage, bad piping, bad electric, sagging floors etc. So we insulated regularly with fiberglass after the plaster was stipped. Our house is balloon framed so the insulation fit in perfect. On the 3rd floor, back hallway, and back kitchen we replaced the double hung and replaced with vinyl. They were just too plain jain and too far gone to pay/time investment. We spent the time and money on the windows with character. After 14 vinyl windows and 7 restored and 2 giannnt windows later you could start to see a different. After we reinsulated the 3rd floor it was pretty good.
I was so close to blowing insulation into my walls. I had the machine and the insulation and I called a friend who works on old houses here In Buffalo. The plan was the blow it up in through the basement. He then says to me "wow I didn't know you replaced ALL the knob and tube wiring in your home. Well... no I hadn't just parts. Knob and tube wiring needs space to cool. If you blow insulation around the wiring you have a better chance at starting a fire!
Another thing that was a bonus in our case is there is gas pipes in every room of our home. We installed wall scounces that are duel electric/gas which helps heat rooms. This in conjuction with gas space heat and gas fireplaces we "space" heat all winter. Our heat bill in December with this space heating was $175 which wasn't estimated. Close all your doors and vents to spaces you don't use and buy some warm clothing for lounging around the house. The plastic on the windows doesn't hurt either.
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Bob
I've never heard this point of view before and it really got me thinking. I build in TX and in the cities where I work they don't allow and interior vapor barrier. The interior barrior combined with the exterior barrier, which is required by code, is said to create a space that is prime for mold growth. We are only allowed to do an exterior barier between the stud wall and the fascia. My question is if there is a new exterior barrier added is there still a good reason not to insullate the walls. The sidding and paint is protected from interior moisture by the new barrier. Also with proper HVAC and ventalation would there be a build up of interior moisture? I'm always looking to learn something new. Thanks
Floor boards over earth basement
I have wood floors nailed directly to the floor joists, which are open to a partial earth basement, and partial cement. I want to insulate the floor and add a moisture barrier.
Should I put insulation inbetween the joists?
Should I put a moisture barrier directly on the joists "sealing" the insulation and floor above?
Should I just put the moisture barrier directly over the dirt?
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What about Air-Krete? Your comments about the vapor barrier totally make sense to me, but I wonder if a closed-cell foam solves this issue? If the water can't get through the foam, it shouldn't ruin the paint job. Also, if it can't get through, isn't it performing the same duties that a sheet of plastic perform? I'm considering doing the cement foam, any thoughts?
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is this true for Icynene as well?
We've avoided insulating the walls in our 1905 Victorian for the reasons you stated here. However, I've come across a product called Icynene, which says it is an open cell insulation that provides an air and moisture barrier.
Do you have any experience with this type of insulation? It is relatively new and not covered in the Pres. Briefs. We love our house, but the energy costs are considerable in western NY winters - even after insulating all of the areas you suggest.
Icynene Foam in Old Houses?
Icynene foam insulation is totally unproven and very problematic from my perspective. Anytime This Old House says it's good I'm skeptical. That show is about remuddling and selling product, not good, cost effective preservation.
There is no credible accelerated testing on this blow-in and shave off icynene foam insulation. It expands a lot and so you really have to install it in a gutted wall and shave it off flush to the studs. Not good, very dirty and expensive if you have great old plaster.
Don't forget back in the 1970's the formaldehyde foam industry made the same unproven claims the icynene folks are making today. Ten to 15 years later we opened these walls and found the formaldehyde foam was dust at the bottom of the wall cavity.
Again, the key here ,with a great payback, is to stop air infiltration, insulate your attic and the box sills (the area where the floor joists rest on top of the foundation) in your basement.
Insulating an old house
On the second floor of our 100+ year-old stucco house in Mishawaka, IN, we have removed the heavily cracked and damaged plaster and lathe down to the brick walls and have reframed the walls. We replaced the "replacement" jalousie windows (sadly installed by a previous owner who must have thrown out the originals) and plan on insulating the heck out of the very high attic. The plan is to install either fiberglass or recycled cotton insulation on the exterior walls with a vapor barrier and drywall over that. Good plan? Preference for either type of insulation?
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