Brownstone Insulation?
I’m doing a partial gut renovation of a single family corner brownstone with over forty windows. The house is approximately 5,000 sq. ft. and will include a three zone HVAC system. I’m taking down most of the interior walls to accomodate the central air, electrical and plumbing upgrade. Since most of the floors will be…
I’m doing a partial gut renovation of a single family corner brownstone with over forty windows. The house is approximately 5,000 sq. ft. and will include a three zone HVAC system. I’m taking down most of the interior walls to accomodate the central air, electrical and plumbing upgrade. Since most of the floors will be open to the studs, I was wondering if I should take this time to also insulate the entire building. The general contractor says that outside of the top floor ceiling, insulating the rest of the house is unnecessary and is rarely ever done in brownstone renovation projects. Is he correct? Just how much insulation should one use when doing a total home renovation? Should every room/ceiling be insulated? Or is this overkill?
I believe I read on a cut sheet that the restriction by lightolier for allowing insulation next to a housing is 3″ …..
this is from the doe website about vapor barriers (not to be confused with the insulation discussion)….”Many existing homes don’t really need a more effective vapor diffusion retarder than the numerous layers of paint usually on their walls and ceilings. These multiple layers are quite effective as a vapor diffusion retarder in all but the most extreme northern climates.” r-19 is a good min. number for insulating the walls and floors all around both for heat loss/gain concerns and sound transmission. poster is probably meaning replacement of the actual window and not the framing too (which he defines as a new window.) i saw a good episode on Ask This Old House where they showed how to insulate old window frames though. Didn’t look very difficult. Of course contractors today probably don’t know how to do this in which case I guess you might need to get rid of all of your window parts. But if you have nice windows then that is too bad.
I remember reading on the OHJ posts that wall insulation can actually cause the plaster to deteriorate due to water condensing outside the vapor barrier adjacent to the plaster. While attic/ ceiling insulation matters, wall insulation is more controversial according to them. And they were talking frame houses not even brick.
11:56 am: what kind of heat do you have? Forced air heated rooms get cooler much faster compared to cast iron radiators and steam/ hot water heat.
I have a 12″ brick wall front and back and no insulation in the walls. Nice and toasty with low heating bills.
Can someone define “replacement” and “new” windows? Aren’t they two of the same? If not, how are they different?
Like i said I have an exposed wall at the end of our row. It is ICE cold in the winter. That eight inches is a magnet for the cold and it transfers the cold into your floor beams (from those nice metal cleats attatched to the brick) and plaster walls. Getting new windows is a good idea, but you should get NEW windows and not replacement windows. Replacements are very easy to install and that is why contractors love them. They can do about 15 to 20 a day. With replacement windows you will still get drafts around the original woodwork. Insulate everything by all means. Seriously. It makes a HUGE difference. I have rooms that get cold the minute the heat goes off.
The thing that I noticed about these big old brownstones is that there are these chases in the walls and ceilings where air currents run the entire basement to roof without much interference. This air can exit through such places as baseboards, pocket doors, wall sockets, window mouldings, even light fixtures. I think when they did the plaster over the lath the excess would fall inside the wall to the floor studs? and seal off many of these holes and acts like fire stopping. But when you remove all this during the demo and before sheetrocking it actually opens more holes. The thing I really notice is cooking smells that travel four floors and come out of the walls in weird places. Or if you open some paint thinner in the basement the smell can show up in the thrid floor closet.
Can someone recommend a good insulation company in Brooklyn?
Can someone recommend a good insulation company in Brooklyn?
Sorry to hear that you got bad advice from your architect.
The right way to do it is to insulate everything.
To me this isn’t a personal preference issue.
Paint color is a personal preference issue.
Everyone prefers to have a home that is as quiet and warm as possible.
At this point I would do the following:
1. Ask your contractor how much it would cost to change the light fixtures and insulate everything. Then you will know the amount of money you are talking about. This is the right way to do it but I understand the realities of a budget.
2. verify that non-ic fixtures were actually installed.
3. Discuss clearances of insulation and non-ic rated fixtures with your architect. Ask your architect to look at how you can insulate around these fixtures without changing them.