Articles and tips about insulation, of interest to homeowners.
Even when covered with insulation, standard recessed lighting fixtures still allow significant amounts of conditioned air to escape and unconditioned air to enter between the fixture and the ceiling opening.
Q: I recently bought a home with two bedrooms above the garage. How can I get insulation in that space and what kind of insulation?
Q: I am evaluating the most feasible method to insulate below the wood floor of a post-WW II house with a crawl space. I have approximately 16 inches of clearance between the bottom of the floor joists and the ground.
This information can clarify and help answer some questions about insulation.
Q: I am removing lathe and plaster interior walls from the second floor bathroom of my two-storey home (built in 1900). The siding is asbestos shingle over 12 inch wood lap siding. All of the walls that lead to the exterior have rock-wool insulation blown into them.
I intend to sheet-rock my bathroom and insulate the walls that lead to the exterior with fiberglass insulation. I want to know if I should first put up any vapor barrier. Once the rock-wool is removed it exposes the back side of the 12-inch wood lap siding, nothing else. In other words, the interior wall leads directly to the siding with nothing but the rock-wool as a barrier. Should I put up Tyvek or Visqueen between the studs? Or since it ain't broke should I not fix it and just re-insulate with Fiberglas and leave as-is?
Q: I just purchased an older home with a couple of separate crawl spaces and would like to know the best way of insulating this area.
Q: I have had moisture build up on the inside single pane windows since I moved into my home. When I called the installer, he said it had to do with excess moisture in the house from the crawl space and walls. I need to know which insulation to install between the floor joists, in the crawl space, and how? Which R-value, and vapor barrier should I install?
Q: I'm replacing my floor insulation because some rats died in it, and it smells really bad. The current configuration is the pink stuff with the silver backing, and chicken wire. I need to know if there is something else to use, or some way to do the project and prevent rat nesting. What kind of suggestions can you give?
Q: I have a house that was built in 1952. Several years after it was built a back bedroom was added that gets so cold in the winter I have to sleep in a front bedroom. I have baseboard heat and run an air conditioner in the summer. Do I need to add more insulation to the house?
Batts and blankets of fiberglass or rock wool insulation are affordable and easily installed in open framing.
You'll know when your insulation needs to be repaired or upgraded -- you'll feel cold air seeping in from seams around windows or doors, or a portion of wall or ceiling will be colder than other sections. Insulation can settle in rafters or within the wall, or the amount of insulation installed in the first place might not be the most efficient for cold weather. According to the Department of Energy, 50 percent to 70 percent of the energy used in the average American home goes toward heating and cooling.
Q: I am in the process of building a new home. I have been told that the CABO requires the installation of a vapor barrier, house wrap type product. I have searched this code and found vapor barrier mentioned in many places but cannot identify that it is applicable to a house wrap. Can you please advise me of the code site number that requires this?
Many older homes, and even some newer ones, have numerous little cracks, holes and spaces through which, in the winter, warm air escapes and cold air enters. In the summer this works in reverse -- unwanted hot air enters and air conditioned air escapes.
Q: I own a house that was built in the 1930s which has one floor of living space, a basement, and an open attic with gable vents. It has roughly 4-6 inches of blown fiberglass insulation. It has no roof vents, vapor barrier, or soffit vents. I wanted to increase the insulation in the attic. Would I use blown cellulose or fiberglass batts, and need to remove the existing insulation and add a vapor barrier? Do I need to install plastic or styrofoam joist vents without having roof vents?