Has any body done anything like this?
It is 2X6 plates with 2X4 studs except for the jacks and sills. Blown insulation will fill the wall to form a thermal break.
Has any body done anything like this?
It is 2X6 plates with 2X4 studs except for the jacks and sills. Blown insulation will fill the wall to form a thermal break.
Few people understand it. Nobody agrees what it is, how to learn about it, or who's responsible for it. It has never been more important
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Replies
I did it once for sound proofing a "Jam Hut." Band needed a place to practice without scaring the neighbors, and also a place to record demos, but they were located next to the RR tracks. Works great. Pain in the neck to frame. I think you'd be better off using 2x6 studs, 24 o.c with rigid foam on the outside to take care of thermal bridging.
Staggered studs, I think, uses too much wood and is too much work.
Dan
Senior editor
It looks like this has been done primarily for sound transmission issues.
Here's my theory, keeping in mind that I really want to do this for my own house, and may never expand to building for others using this method:
I think the cost of the 2X4s, being less than the cost of the 2X6s, will not be that great. If you measure the extra 2X4s, it really comes down to a small increase in wood, overall.
The wall will be heavier, but nothing my wall jacks cannot handle. Like anything new, it will be a pain. When the oil runs out, it will be a value, IMO. (I fully and truly believe the oil will run out, although not in my lifetime. Our kids will have to face that situation.)
I would like to see some more specific comments on disadvantages in the interest of doing this more efficiently.
As an individual, I want to do something meaningful to save energy in the home. This is one of the ways to save a lot because savings of this type can be extrapolated over decades, probably six to ten if the rest of the house is reasonably well-built. An extra bunk of 2X4s in a home, and a few extra hours of labor, will not begin to approach the savings in energy.
Look at what is happening in gas and diesel. Who would have thought it could double in just a couple of years? Cutting your home heating bills by, say, 60%, might not be such an unreasonable alternative.
Yes, seen it and done it - for sound though.
Like Dan said - PITA framing, wall weighs a ton, way too much wood involved.
Jim
I'm with Dan on this one. Using a layer of rigid foam on the outside will give you better insulation with less work.
Not only will the negative effect of having outer studs be removed, you will also insulate the top plate, sill and jacks. Allowing the rigid foam to go past the sill and plates can also be efficient.
And as always, as you insulate a house more, more time will have to be spent finding good solutions for transitions between walls-windows, wall-floor, wall-roof and so on, beacause a larger part of the energy typically will be lost there when the walls/roof-themselves get more efficient. This is also important to avoid getting uncontrolled condensation and other moisture problems in the long run.
I think it's great you are thinking this through and trying to find good solutions, more people should.
I built my house in 79. IIRC the gas criss was over, but there was a shortage of natural gas.I want to a home show where someone was selling a insulation system designed for a staggered wall construction.It was molded styrofoam with slots molded in it for the 2x4's.Never heard of it since..
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Edited 1/6/2008 9:06 am by BillHartmann
Well, maybe I will have to do some more thinking on this. My current house has Al foil-covered foam panels between the studs and the 5/8" siding. It seems to work well, but I wanted to improve the insulation situation even more. My heater and AC run much more than I would consider ideal. We keep our thermostat at about 76 in the summer and 65 in the winter and still have to pay about an average of $100 per month total for gas and electric. Of course, this includes hot water and running appliances etc.
I've done a number of double-stud wall houses, either in-line or staggered, with single or separate plates. All of those systems were a PITA.
For the last 20 years, I've been using a Larsen Truss or modified Larsen Truss wall system, with 12" of blown cellulose and virtually no thermal bridging as the outer chord of the wall truss extends past floor/ceiling assemblies from sill to rafters.
I get an R-40+ wall and an R-60+ ceiling, use the air-tight drywall system instead of vapor barrier. And, because I use metal t-bracing and no exterior wall sheathing (3/4" drop siding), with rough-sawn full dimension lumber at 24" oc, I can build this system with less wood than a conventional 2x6 house.
Solar & Super-Insulated Healthy Homes
I Googled Larsen Truss. It was quite interesting. I will think about incorporating some of the principles in my design.