ceder siding/insullation question
drjsrosenberg
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
I have a 1928 balloon construction two story colonial in northern new jersey with cedar clapboard siding, a lousy paint job with splintering wood and no insulation. My question is about getting the best bang for the buck with regards to insulation effectiveness, look for the house, and long term maintence issues such as repainting. My ideas were
a)blown in cellulose, repair siding and repaint, but the paint will need to be done frequently
b)take off all the siding, foam board insulate and put on new siding (either cedar shake, fibercement siding, or vinyl which looks like cedar).
Please comment
Jeff
Replies
Greetings drj,
That subject carries great depth and has been addressed here on Breaktime a number of different times in the past.
In the event you fail to receive the information you desire, you might find it in the archives.
If you scroll down in the lower left corner of your screen there is a search function that will take you to previous threads dealing with whatever you type in the search bar.
If you type in 'cellulose' 'foamboard' or other keywords of the subject matter you'll get a supply of data from those old threads.
Put on the coffeepot 'cause there's plenty in there.
Cheers
'Nemo me impune lacesset'
No one will provoke me with impunity
From a guy who used to run a siding and insulation company:
b)take off all the siding, blow the walls with high density cellulose, add 1" foam board and exterior air barrier (Tyvek/Typar) and put on new siding (either cedar shake, fibercement siding, or vinyl which looks like cedar).
Certainly pulling of the siding will let you do a much better job of air sealing.
happy?
Owner of similar house, similar location.
If you can get the siding off, you might be able to get off enough of the sheathing planks to spray foam, say open cell so the house can dry to both interior and exterior.
While the siding is off, consider reflashing the windows if the original flashing is worn out/nonexistent.
Might also be a good time to consider upgrading the wiring.
Typically people will gut the interior to upgrade wiring and insulation. Seems a shame to replace that pre-Depression plaster with DW.
Vinyl siding would be a crime on one of these old houses. People here seem to be fans of fibercement, but I dunno....
Can you get cedar clapboard in NJ?