# New Insulation in and old home



## Sartrean (Jan 11, 2012)

I searched for a thread on this but came up with nothing. 

My wife and I bought a restored farm home built in 1899. We have not lived in the home long enough to see a pattern in heating and cooling bills, but we know that the house does not have update insulation. I am concerned for the presence of asbestos but we would like to start looking into the cost of having the home brought up to a higher R rating. 

The home has aluminium siding and we were hoping that a company could remove the siding and then insulate from the outside. The original plaster walls are still in the home and tearing them down is not an option, however if there is a minimally invasive procedure that we can use to get better insulation we would entertain the idea.

We were told that plaster walls, in and of themselves, have a natural insulating property to them but we cant confirm this. The house has double paned windows.

Does anyone have any ideas to help point us in the right direction?

Also, the home inspector advised us that we only had about 6 inches of insulation in the attic crawl space. He recommended we add more to a total of 8-10 inches . Does anyone have a brand/type of insulation they can recommend and any tips. I know that when installing roof insulation, you need to make sure you don't cover the air vents in the eve.


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## TarheelTerp (Jan 6, 2009)

> ...aluminium siding *... remove the siding and then insulate from the outside.*


If you're prepared to remove all of the vinyl siding (Hoorah!)...

Balloon framing really complicates wall insulation. 
That is/was still quite common in that era home. Do you have it?


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

First thing would be to remove the siding, do any wood repairs, replace windows & doors, seal gaps with caulk, then wrap with Tyvek, or just place foam over the exterior, before placing new siding with insulation on the backside. From the inside, tear off walls, replace all wiring, piping, seal any gaps on the inside of the wood sheathing with DAP foam or any other type of foam. At the boxes for the outlets and switch boxes, place squares of heavy mil plastic, so that you can help air seal those areas after you insulate.

now for insulation, Spray foam would be the best bet in Balloon framing, especially after you block the upper gaps, otherwise dense pack insulation like Roxwool or the such, not Fiberglass.

You can tell in a short while how bad the cooling and heating is, by watching your bills. My bills were higher last Winter, before I went around and air sealed, and placed 3m window film over four of my worst windows, now they are lower.

BTW, how old is the HVAC equipment that is in this place? And yes, that is a sucking sound coming out of your wallet, and dollar signs in your eyes. I got two bids this year on putting in dense pack insulation in my walls. One was $2800 before concessions and discounts from the two utilities (one for gas (ameren), and local city owned electric), the other was $1800 with no discounts or concessions.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Sartrean said:


> I searched for a thread on this but came up with nothing.
> 
> My wife and I bought a restored farm home built in 1899. We have not lived in the home long enough to see a pattern in heating and cooling bills, but we know that the house does not have update insulation. I am concerned for the presence of asbestos but we would like to start looking into the cost of having the home brought up to a higher R rating.
> 
> ...


Might be a good time to have an energy audit done on the property or at minimum have a contractor who understands energy and how the insulation systems work together look at the project and coordinate the repairs that you are interested in.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Not sure where that other poster came up with the idea of having to remove windows and doors. No reason to.
A real insulation company can add blocking in the bottom of the walls from under the house if you indeed have ballon framing, holes are drilled out with a hole saw or better yet sections of siding are removed and insulation is shot in.
If this house still have old wiring and you plan on keeping this house you would be doing yourself a huge favor to just remove all the outside siding, do all your new wiring, add blocking at the top and bottoms of the wall, use spray foam (not a DIY job) or fiberglass batts, install OSB sheathing, tyvek then new siding.
That old aluminum sidng can go to the recyler.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

+1

More details are going to be needed to really tell you how to skin this "cat".

This is absolutely one of the scenarios where you want to do everything that you can in the proper order to minimize the repetition of labor.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

Joe, it is called doing it properly. A gouse that old is going to have more problems that a hypochondriac going to the doctor. Especially if it was never properly maintained over the years, or updated in the past twenty.


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## Sartrean (Jan 11, 2012)

WoW thanks for all of the great information..its definitely alot to consider. While the house is old, it has been well maintained but for me, it needs "more" to make it the house I want it to be.

I was hoping that the siding, which is not old, could be preserved. I will look into the ballon option.

Thank you all very much for your time.


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