Walls Are Cold - Insulation?
The front wall of my house is really, really cold. When you sit near it, you can feel a cold draft coming in around electrical outlets. The wood shutter enclosures are cold. The closet in the garden floor is cold. There is cold air moving inside the walls. Here’s the thing: There are NO gaps,…
The front wall of my house is really, really cold. When you sit near it, you can feel a cold draft coming in around electrical outlets. The wood shutter enclosures are cold. The closet in the garden floor is cold. There is cold air moving inside the walls.
Here’s the thing:
There are NO gaps, cracks, openings, etc. on the front wall of the house. I checked it myself. I also caulked the windows myself.
Here’s the other thing:
I had blown in fiberglas insulation put in my cockloft last year – I was told by the energy audit I had performed beforehand that this would cut down on cold air in the walls (since the walls are all lead up to the cockloft).
Here’s my theory:
I think the cold *interior surface* of the *exterior wall* (the surface inside the little airspace inside the wall) is radiating cold, which is creating convection currents, which explains the constant draft.
Here’s my question:
What are my options for insulating the space inside my walls?
I already got a quote for air-krete, but it’s really expensive. Does anyone have other suggestions of materials which can be injected into the space inside the wall? What are the pros? What are the cons?
The air in the basement is warm, so I’d think any infiltration from below wouldn’t be ice cold like this.
The window casings is an interesting thought – I’ve caulked all the windows I can get to (I’m not much of one for hanging off a 40′ ladder) but the windows ARE aluminum windows of a certain vintage (looks like the 80s or 90s most likely).
My first guess is cracks in the cornice (in the ornate woodwork under the front edge of the roof at the front of the house) .
How is the cold air getting into your walls? It sounds like an infiltration problem. I would look around in your basement, especially around the top of the foundation wall, and also look for cracks and gaps in your exterior that are letting the cold air into the wall cavity. Gaps around your window casings (concealed by window trim) could be another culprit. If you don’t identify and resolve the source of the infiltration, insulation won’t help.
OP here… thanks for all the feedback.
DIBS:
I was told by various sources that the cavity inside the wall is only a few inches and that any sort of blown-in insulation (ie: cellulose, fiberglass) would just clog and wouldn’t fill the gaps properly.
I’m hesitant to use any sort of expanding foam for various reasons – toxicity, expansion messing up the window casings, mess inside the walls if I ever need to get inside for any electrical or other work (that stuff is like krazy glue once it’s stuck to something), the aforementioned “spittlebug” effect, and so on.
Also, it’s not just air infiltration – it’s cold radiating from the whole wall (the whole thing is cold).
Have you done this sort of thing yourself? I’m pretty handy, but this is also my first venture into homeownership…
Bob Marvin:
As for the vapor barrier issue, I was told that Air Krete doesn’t require a vapor barrier since the stuff fills the cavity completely (ie: there’s no air in there – it effectively becomes a solid mass), so there’s no room for air to bring in condensation, etc.
Any other feedback would be appreciated… I’m getting tired of these insane heating bills every winter.
Spray cellulose pumped into the walls by Brooklyn Insulation and Soundproofing. You’ll get a credit from your energy provider, too.
Ed Kopel Architects, PC
i had one exterior wall and a wall that adjoined a garage insulated by a professional company which i’d post but forgot their name. it was quick and smooth (they punched holes filled it up and did a great patch job). it might be worth simply getting a couple of estimates and a professional opinion which would be free. fyi – worked great.
snappy – any product that blocks air will help to some extent along the baseboard. Whether or not that’s the right product probably depends on the size of the gap you are trying to fill. Ideally you could pop off the baseboard and see if there are any large gaps, which could fill with expanding foam or fiberglass batt/strips. May be easier said than done, depending how long the baseboard has been in place (ie, if its caked under 100 years of paint, it’ll probably look “wrong” when you try to reattach it to the wall).
I’m told that insulating your walls without installing a vapor barrier (which AFAIK requires ripping out the interior plaster) would lead to serious condensation problems. A roof [cockloft] can be insulated without adding a vapor barrier because you can install roof vents to dissipate the water vapor that passes through the insulation. I don’t think there’s any practical way to vent an exterior masonry wall (or at least no way the LPC would tolerate).
My gosh, I looked it up, and there really is such a thing as a “cockloft,” and in fact, we actually has one! This is invaluable information for “Talk Like a Pirate” day; I can strut about, parrot on shoulder, point to the third-floor ceiling, and say, “Aye, matey, shiver me cockloft!”
We insulated our, ahem, cockloft many years ago, with fiberglass batts, to no avail; the hot third floor just got hotter while the rest stayed drafty. Blowing fluffy stuff into the (hollow, wood and plaster) walls is apparently the next step, but we haven’t done it yet; if we do, I feel certain it will shoot out all over the house through its many cracks and crevices.
Early on in our adventure here, I went at all the baseboards and outlets with a gun full of that expandable insulating foam; let’s just say that there’s a learning curve in getting the pressure right. I called the aftermath “Attack of the Giant Spittlebug.”
Our double-paned windows are incredibly leaky. We weatherstripped, shrink wrapped, and covered them in heavy blankets (for that special decorating touch) and it’s much better.