Insulation, Radiant and Vapor Barriers - blown in insulation??

Hi - just purchase a 2 family house - plaster walls, no insulation. I was planning on tearing out & insulating, but its been suggested I go the blown in route. Walls are in nice shape, however current heating costs are extremely high. Furnaces are 5 yrs old, so I have to think its the lack of insulation.

Any cost estimates or ideas about blown in insulation? House is very narrow - o/s dimension 60 X 16. Hard asbestos siding.

http://www.easy2.com/cm/easy/diy_ht_index.asp?page_id=35693880
is an article about blown-in insulation in walls. They fail to mention that some walls will have fire-stops, which means each stud cavity would have two holes, one at the top of each cavity created by the fire-stop.

Are you happy with the siding? What about the electrical? What I am to suggest isn't for the faint-hearted, but it would allow addition of electrical, data, TV cables etc.

Remove the siding, install your cables and insulation, and reapply siding.

There are a lot of options with this proposal, and a lot of challenges.


That is the plan for my fixer-upper, since the interior walls were applied over tongue and groove (I have no idea why).

In my case, this is what I am considering:

Remove the current siding.

Install the cablings of my choice. Probably the 'smurf' conduit, with 4" (double) boxes for the electrical every ten feet. It won't exactly match the floor plan, some boxes might end up with blank covers, but the conduit comes in ten foot lengths. One network of conduit for electrical, one for data/TV .

At this point I could install fiberglass batts.

Sheath the wall in OSB (if you are planning blown-in, now is a good time to mark the location of firestops).

If you are blowing-in insulation, do it now. I have no idea if the holes would need to be covered (duct tape?).

Cover the wall with a serious amount of EPS foam, say 3 1/2 inches.

Apply vertical vinyl siding, using 4 1/2 screws.




That is the plan, though I am not sure about it's wisdom or practicality. I put it out for consideration and discussion.

Kathie569,

It is always a good idea to look at the overall picture for heating and cooling and insulation. Attic insulation is probably first on the list. Stopping leaks around the house is important, too. Blowing in insulation is an excellent option to removing the siding and replacing it. Even with firestops, the insulation can be blown in above and below the firestops. The damage to the siding for penetration is minimal and easily repaired. Age of the house is no guarantee that there are firestops. It needs to be determined individually. My house was built in 1939 and has no firestops. You can blow the insulation in frorm the inside, too. Repairing the wall is straightforward. This is an option for those with exterior siding that is difficult to repair. (Too high off the ground.)

Hope this helps.

Here is how I handled cabling in an existing house.

http://www.ac5r.org/cat5.html

You can also find a lot of discussion and information in the voice and data communications section about various methods of installling your cabling.

http://forum.doityourself.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=105

Hope this helps.