I’m working on a 1926 house with no insulation. The lower third of the walls in several rooms were removed to replace water-damaged wood from window leaks. Would there be any value in adding fiberglass batts in the exposed stud bays? The homeowner is not willing to spend more for any other insulation, nor remove more of the plaster walls to insulate everything. Would this be a complete waste of time?
Thank you for any feedback.
Replies
Absolutely!
If, at first, you fricascee, fry, fry a hen!
Where are you located?
Thanks for the replies. I know this question is fairly idiotic but I told the client I'd do a little research.This is in Oakland, CA. Mild winters but there's usually a couple of months a year when older homes like this get a bit chilly. Much appreciated.
do it
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You really think it would be worth the admittedly minimal time and expense?
Even in a modedrate climate, insulation is almost always worth the trouble. It would not be cost effective if you had to open things up to do it, but with the walls already open, it is ridiculous not to make the effort at improving things.two circumstances i can think of where insulation might be less worthwhile -when it is a "camp" used only occasionally. The insulation might increase comfort, but the iunfrequent use would cut payback when the addition of insulation might negatively impact on the whole system of ventilation, vapour barriers, etc.
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I would push the batts as far up the cavity as they would go (you probably have firebreaks halfway up the wall) and cut them off at the bottom.
Another option would be to blow insulation into the cavities. You would have two holes to patch in each cavity (four holes if there are firebreaks), but I think that having the insulation would be worth it.
Thank you for the additional comments. It sounds like a little insulation would be better than none and I'll pass along this information. Piffin- this is not a "camp" situation, nor are there any other issues with adding batts. The homeowner was just getting different opinions from the various people who are working there and didn't know which way to go.Dave- these walls have diagonal members in (what seems to me) strange locations so the batts couldn't be pushed up much farther than a third way up. As for blowing in insulation, I don't think this is an option as they're way over budget, but I'll run it by the homeowner.Much appreciated,Steve