I discovered an empty bay without insulation at the corner of the wall on the second floor of my 25 year old colonial in CT. The rest of the house has fiberglass bats in the 2×6 framing. The bay has a coaxial cable and phone cable, and I found the issue when working on the outlet box. Not sure why insulation would have been omitted. Two questions:
1. What is the best/easiest way to insulate this bay besides cutting a big hole in the sheetrock and stuffing in fiberglass batt, and would the technique depend on…
2. Am I likely to find other surprises, ie. should I be renting a thermal imaging camera to look for other missing insulation?
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Replies
Have you only the outlet box space open for the analysis? How are you sure the bay is uninsulated?
The old-work box was loose, and after removing it there was an empty bay. Put my fist in- nothing bu cable. Probed up and down with my tape measure an felt no apparent resistance until the top and bottom plates.
Hard to believe this was intentionally left empty. I suspect blown in insulation would make the most sense especially if there were other empty bays.
Several products can be blown into an existing wall cavity.
experienced crews can use small holes and fill the cavity with good results.
likely they will have a minimum charge to come with the equipment.
You could wait for a cold day and walk around with an IR thermometer. they are not very expensive and are lots of fun around the house. A 2x6 bay with missing insulation should be easy to detect.
Beauty is as beauty does.
You can get someone to perform an energy audit, with a blower door to check for leaks, and infrared imaging to identify areas with more heat loss.
they also can make recommendations to improve efficiency and save you energy dollars.
https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/weatherize/home-energy-audits
Another way is to examine your utility use, compared to degree-days. some utilities offer this in comparison with your neighbors.
my favorite method is to wait for a light snowfall or heavy frost, and look at the roof. locations where the frost/snow melt first can indicate locations where there are issues in the attic.. (you can also look in the attic, if there is an access you can use.)
Too impatient to wait three weeks for Insulation contractor visit, I opened the wall. Found the fiberglass twisted into rope, apparently by a flexible drill bit someone had used to run the cable. The IR gun was fun, but not all that clear in this situation. Blown-in insulation may or may not have worked, but I'm glad I cut a bigger hole and saved a couple bucks.
Thanks again for your advice