Replies

1. 
   MojoMan | Nov 21, 2004 01:17am | #1

   Just before residing is an ideal time to blow in cellulose from the outside. Your new siding will cover all the holes drilled through the sheathing. Talk to some insulating contractors. Check with your utility to see if they have an incentive program.

   Al Mollitor, Sharon MA

2. 
   RetiredCPA3 | Dec 13, 2004 05:25am | #2

   I'm just a do-it-yourselfer, who had a finish carpenter for a father-in-law, and spent a lot of time around carpenters as a kid.  If I was in your shoes, I would just stuff fiberglass bats in with the vapor barrier on the proper side for your climate.  This Old House's Tommy Silva seems to be a great fan of spray-in, expanding foam, which is then cut off flush with the studs after it cures.

   Had a house with aluminum siding, and good lath and plaster inside, wanted to insulate, and was told to pop off a strip of siding, then bore holes through the underlying siding and sheathing, fiberglass was blown into the stud spaces, and obviously, no vapor barrier, and did cut the heating costs in that house, and still in excellent condition 10 years later when it was torn down for a nearby library expansion.  And, I always ran the humidifier on the hot air furnace in the winter in this Crystal Lake, Illinois house, too.

   Goose

    

3. 
   JohnSprung | Dec 16, 2004 03:02am | #3

   Good, cheap, easy.  You can have any two of the three.

   Blown in cellulose is good and inexpensive, but a royal pain if you ever have to work on the walls.

   Fiberglass batts are cheap and easy to put in, but not much R value.

   Plastic foam gives you good R value, and doesn't make a big mess, but it costs.

    

   -- J.S.

    

4. 
   DanH | Dec 16, 2004 04:17am | #4

   On the old farmhouse my parents had (outside Louisville KY) the insulating crew took out pieces of siding (no sheathing) to insulate with blown cellulose. I vaguely recall they had a piece of plywood with a hole in it they'd place over the opening in the stud bay while blowing.

   About 2/3rds of the siding pieces came out solid enough to reinstall, and some salvaged siding from another house was used to fix up the rest. The same siding is still on there, nearly 40 years later.

   If you're residing it's probably simpler to just drill holes in the existing stuff to insulate, assuming you're siding over without removing the old stuff.

   If you're removing/replacing the old stuff, and not installing any sheathing, leave the nails loose in the appropriate boards so they can be removed later for insulating. If you'll have sheathing, it's a simple matter to drill holes in that (before siding) and plug them afterwards.