Insulate! Insulate! Insulate!
I am working on an insulation plan for my brownstone, and would like to compare/contrast with you. At this point, the most effective and least costly method seems to be fiberglass batts, installed by yours truly. We are thinking 2 layers in the ceiling (to get to R49) with plastic vapor barrier. For the exterior…
I am working on an insulation plan for my brownstone, and would like to compare/contrast with you.
At this point, the most effective and least costly method seems to be fiberglass batts, installed by yours truly. We are thinking 2 layers in the ceiling (to get to R49) with plastic vapor barrier. For the exterior walls, we are debating hard foam between furring strips v. a built-out wall stuffed with R19 pink stuff.
We are also debating insulating party walls. On one hand, why pay to heat your neighbor’s house? On the other, it’s a lot of effort.
The questions we have are about how effective other kinds of insulation are v. their cost. Anyone have experience with sheeps wool or blown foam and want to tell their tale?
We’re using icynene, which is an open cell foam. We’re doing the walls that are currently open and the ceiling area. As these areas are open, they can be sprayed (which is less expensive than pouring, which can be done with very small holes drilled into closed lathe/plaster walls).
Foam insulation won’t sag, compress or get dirty (which as far as I’m concerned, makes it much better than fiberglass batts and some blown in). Sagging and compression over time can actually decrease the R value.
Using a foam, we don’t need to be as concerned with vapor barrier, which can be a major problem with fiberglass in a relatively humid climate.
http://www.icynene.com/
I insulated the attic space myself (with help from my son and Home Depot). I purchased 26 bales of cellulose ($278.11) and rented the blower ($54.18). You get a day free with a large purchase of material. Actual installation was easy and quick, but messy. I had the mask and tools already (and the six-pack for when it was done). I would have got it done in one day but I had labor issues–work day v. beach day. A lot of time spent planning and prepping in order to make it go quickly.
I haven’t experienced winter yet but I’m confident. I could already feel the good results on hot summer days.
I also added a wind turbine ($63.00) for venting and for access to the far areas under the roof. This was the only cutting I did. All other access was from below via the scuttleway, a bathroom air shaft and the skylight.
Regarding a vapor barrier: I will be applying a paint for this purpose to the top floor ceiling.
I would suggest sound-proofing your partywall while you’re at it! you won’t regret doing it.
http://www.greenglue.org/
We recently had a lot of insulation work done in our house; we have an attached limestone with a rounded front. Our house has lots of original woodwork around and below the windows, we found out that it was all hollow (nothing between the woodwork and outer bricks) and let in tons of cold air in the winter. We found a contactor that used Air-Krete, it’s a non-expanding foam (non expanding is very important, otherwise it could ruin the woodwork). The guy blew the insulation in around all of the windows and cavities around the front and the back of the house. He also blew in (from the outside on the roof) Insulsafe4, 12 or 14 inches of it. We had this done about a month ago so I cant comment on how good it is in the winter, but it already made a nice difference with the AC. This was pretty expensive. Let me know if anyone wants more info. I’d recommend it though.
cotton person here… recycled -> less environmental impact, perported much better sound insulation, don’t need to worry about breathing dangerous fibers in installation (breathing glass bad) which we are doing ourselves, good fire retardant behavior. Cost is somewhat higher than fiberglass but much less than wool. More stable than blown in paper I believe.
OP here… regarding party walls, well exceuuuuuuuuuuuuse me!
Hey Cotton Person, why did you choose cotton?
Unless you live next door to a slumlord apartment building, the neighbors will heat their homes sufficiently and YOU will benefit from it too, don’t forget. The heat travels both ways, from their houses into yours too! You know, laws of physics and all. The only kind of insulation someone should consider for party walls is sound insulation, not heat insulation. Silly.
As noted before on this site – insulating party walls is a waste of time, money, space provided that your neighbors heat their places to a livable temperature. What matters is heat differental between your place & the space outside it, maximum 10deg to your neighbors interior vs 30-50deg to outside.
We are using recycled cotton insulation (in roof 2xR19, in walls 1xR19, under floor 1xR19, and inside some interior walls 1xR13), with selective use of foil backed polyisocyanurate foam board where space is tight. FYI the cotton insulation also supposed to insulate sound reasonably well.
Roofmaster is a roofer.