We purchased a 1920’s brick cape which has no insulation in the walls, there being an air space between the brick and the plaster and lathe walls. The attic has what appears to be a kind of tar paper top and bottom filled with (perhaps) cellulose which is only about 2″ thick.
Insulating the walls, we figure we’ll just keep the plaster and lathe and build another wall inside the existing walls (exterior walls only) and rewire and insulate them before rocking them.
As for the attic, I’m considering removing all the old insulation so that I can properly insulate the joists and kneewalls etc. It doesn’t seem like the existing stuff can be doing much.
Any opinions or ideas?
Replies
Couple things spring to mind. First one being that the attic may have vermiculite, which if it is, most likely contains asbestos. Google it and you'll find pics to help you identify it.
I see that you live in Maine, so it gets pretty cold. Dont know if you have searched the archives on insulation yet, there's literally hours of nuggets there. Rule of thumb is to stop air leakage first then insulate. If you only have 2" in your attic you're in good shape to do that (not much in your way) long as it ain't vermiculite.
I sort of think its nuts to build new walls in front of old walls. Better to gut and rewire/insulate then to loose all that floor space, add extension jambs to windows, etc. Unless you've got one of those brick houses with furring strips right on the brick.
If you do, gut it and foam right onto the brick and then build your new walls if you can pony up the cash.
Check out http://www.weatherization.com for some good info on capes.
I was considering the gut method, but the walls aren't too deep (2 1/2 ish) not deep enough for a metal electric box directly in the plaster. I didn't think that I could put any insulation against the brick, but had to put a 1" spacer against the brick and then put rigid foam. I'll check out the websight you gave me though.
On the attic piece, I jumped the gun. Only part of it was as I described, the bit that comes down into the knee walls. The other looks like white fiberglass insluation. What exactly does vermiculite look like?
I don't really want to lose the floor space, but it seems like one of the few options which will allow me to re-wire (from the knob and tube) and get good insulation.
Thank you for the info on the vermiculite. From checking around on google, the pictures I saw it looked more granluar than what I have. The stuff in my attic is more like shredded news paper, a soft grey material.
Any ideas?