Best Way to Insulate Walls in an Old House

If you live in a state with freezing temperatures in the winter and sweltering heat in the summer, you don't want to be stuck in an onetime house with no insulation.

Michigan, and portions of the mid-due west and due east coast, can have a fluctuation of temperatures in merely a week or, in some cases, but a day. When y'all're living in an older home – built in the early on 1900s to 1950s – in many cases, there is very little or nothing in the attic, walls, or crawl space for insulation.

So how exercise you insulate an old house?

Find answers to foam insulation FAQ in our learning center.

RetroFoam of Michigan has more than 17 years of experience insulating homes, and the best return on investment we see are from these older homes with no insulation. Adding an air seal to an one-time firm won't just arrive more than comfortable, it will save y'all money on your monthly energy bills.

In our continued efforts to educate homeowners, permit's take a wait at how to insulate an one-time business firm with foam insulation.

How to All-time Insulate an Old House

When insulating your existing home, no thing the historic period, the main options will be spray foam and injection cream, fiberglass, or cellulose.

The best insulation for an older home that has a lot of drafts is going to exist a material that creates an air seal. Spray cream and injection cream are the best options when it comes to making your dwelling house energy efficient and comfy.

Traditional insulation won't give you lot the needed air bulwark yous need to go along your treated air inside and the outside temperatures out where they belong. This is considering these materials still let for air to move through them.

How to Finish Moisture Problems

Older homes tend to accept a lot of cracks and gaps throughout the construction from decades of shifting and settling.

Moisture can discover its way through these gaps and into your home.

This is why foam insulation is really the best option to seal upwardly the home from the outside. Foam insulation is the only textile that will expand into all of the nooks and crannies to fill up the crenel completely.

It's important to annotation, whatever serious structural damage like very big cracks in the foundation or roof leaks should be taken intendance of before the foam insulation is installed.

How to Tell if Yous Need Insulation

Practise you accept high monthly free energy bills, uncomfortable rooms, issues with moisture, mold, and mildew?

These are just some of the signs you demand insulation in your domicile. Other symptoms include a constantly running furnace or air conditioner, cold floors, drafts, and walls that are cold to the touch. Some problems could fifty-fifty lead to structural damage to the roof, like if you notice ice dams forming at the gutters each winter.

If you have some insulation in your dwelling house, it is likely if it hasn't been replaced or maintained in at least 20 years. If that's the instance, the insulation has likely shifted, settled, sagged, and likely deteriorated over time.

What Happens to Existing Insulation in the Cranium, Walls, and Crawl Space?

If your older dwelling happens to have existing insulation, in some cases, information technology volition demand to be removed, and in others, information technology will stay where it is.

For case, anything in your attic, crawl space, or rim joist will need to be removed before the spray cream is applied. Now, if there is fiberglass in the walls, then it tin stay right where information technology is without interfering with the injection cream installation.

There are cases where the exterior walls have blown-in cellulose, and that will need to be removed. If that'due south the case, so crews will vacuum out as much of the material every bit they are able.

Let's talk almost the clamber space and the attic starting time.

If the traditional insulation in these areas has get wet, then it volition need to be removed due to mold and mildew issues. You will be able to tell as it will expect wet and possibly accept black spots throughout as the mold grows.

An added do good of removing all of that old insulation is yous're also getting rid of all of the dust and allergens that were inside those materials.

Over time cellulose and fiberglass volition shift, settle, and sag. If that's the instance, you lot tin can add together more insulation, just you'll have to make sure yous maintain the cellulose with raking and ensure the fiberglass is properly cut and installed.

When it comes to the walls of your dwelling, you can add together more than insulation while leaving the original intact. If you want to add insulation without tearing down your drywall, you can use diddled-in materials.

If you desire energy efficiency, comfort, and an air barrier, foam insulation is the best option.

Insulating an Old House: Process and Areas to Install

When information technology comes to installing cream insulation in your older home, you should insulate from the very elevation all the manner to the bottom.

This method seals the home's unabridged building envelope and includes the attic, walls, rim joist, and clamber space. If you desire to eliminate air leakage in your home, information technology doesn't make sense to leave any area uninsulated.

Now let's talk most the installation process.

Insulating the Attic of an One-time Business firm

Typically, older homes accept a larger cranium space, which may seem piece of cake to install because there is more room to work, merely there are gaps to worry about.

In that location will be gaps in the roof deck and by the soffits.

Whatever fourth dimension yous have gaps, fifty-fifty if it'due south just a half-inch, that is a space the foam will get into.

There is an like shooting fish in a barrel fix, the installation crew will accept more fourth dimension to detect those gaps, and either utilise a canned foam to seal them or use plastic to encompass them to avoid the spray cream getting into places where information technology shouldn't be.

When insulating the attic, you have two choices - to insulate the roof deck or the cranium flat.

If you want the attic to be part of your conditioned space because y'all plan to employ information technology for storage, and so the roof deck is the best option. If you have no plans for the attic, the flat tin can be sprayed, cutting the infinite off from the rest of the conditioned living space.

Insulating Onetime Business firm Walls

The walls in an sometime house can add some complications to the install procedure, but it's nothing a skillful contractor tin can't handle.

Almost every old business firm has double and triple studs. So, when crews take the siding off and drill into the house. The double and triple studs just add extra drilling time for the crews to ensure the chore is done correctly.

Another thing crews notice with older homes is a lot of nails. Because they use an auger-style scrap that grinds the woods out when that bit hits a boom, information technology stops. When crews know they are working on an older home, they make certain to bring extra drills.

The procedure of insulating an older habitation's exterior walls or a newer existing habitation is basically the same, aside from the things we just discussed.

The blazon of siding your home has can change the installation process from the technique used to the amount of fourth dimension it takes to complete the job. Nosotros work with vinyl, aluminum, brick, wood, as well every bit slate tiles and stucco.

The injection foam insulation tin can be installed in your outside walls from the outside, so you lot don't have to worry virtually taking downwards any drywall.

Crawl Space and Rim Joist Insulation in an Erstwhile Firm

One affair that stands out in older homes is the crawl infinite is usually what's referred to equally a Michigan clamber space or a Michigan basement.

This refers to a crawl space or basement that has stone walls. Sometimes there is a dirt floor or concrete, and the walls are shorter – around 5-feet-alpine.

These stone walls can exist sprayed with foam insulation, simply like any other surface to create an air seal.

Much like the cranium, there are two options when insulating a crawl infinite -- either spray the walls and rim joist or spray under the floor and rim joist.

If there are mechanicals or ductwork in the crawl space, then it is recommended to lay plastic on the floor and spray the walls. This method seals off the foundation of the home and ensures the clamber infinite will be the same temperature as the rest of the house.

If there aren't whatsoever mechanicals or ductwork, then the better pick is to insulate the crawl space ceiling. This method creates an air seal that cuts the clamber space off from the residuum of the business firm.

Learn More About Foam Insulation

For owners of older homes, information technology is important to proceed the character of their old home while bringing the comfort level and energy efficiency into the 21st century with the right insulation.

Maintaining that old farmhouse aesthetic is important, and it'due south important to hire an insulation contractor who will keep that in mind, leaving the home looking just similar information technology did before the work began. Leaving the homeowner with their rustic-looking firm with new insulation that volition make it more than comfy and free energy-efficient.

If you want to learn more about the benefits of foam insulation, check out the Learning Centre on our website.

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Foam vs Fiberglass vs Cellulose: Which Insulation is All-time for My Existing House?

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