Insulating a fully renovated brownstone in Bed Stuy

Any thoughts on tips on how to best insulate or what to watch out for when trying to insulate a fully gut renovated brownstone ….bricks, ceilings, floors, windows, etc. I will have exposed brick on my western walls…looks great but not the best way to keep warm. Thanks again for your help. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone !!

mykonos

in Insulation 11 years and 5 months ago

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mykonos | 11 years and 2 months ago

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Hey Dean, Unfortunately my renovation has not even started. DOB issues by the builder/owner. Thanks much for checking in.

deanbh | 11 years and 2 months ago

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@Mykynos, so did you end up using the iso board? who did you use? how many square feet and what did it cost you?

pmhcuuxmobsohz | 11 years and 5 months ago

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Siehst du dich [“grüner kaffee”](http://www.gutgrunekaffee.de/)

Augustiner | 11 years and 5 months ago

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Exterior insulation is most efficient. I’d choose that on the rear walls, then also exposed brick on your inside walls is no problem. I would not recommend spray foam, especially if you don’t plan on integrating a HRV (heat recovery insulation), because your indoor air quality will be poor. When redoing your roof don’t forget to add an exterior insulation underneath your roofing membrane (Polyiso or Roxul Toprock). It’s not expensive and will make a big difference.

jbbeta | 11 years and 5 months ago

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DIBS – what are your thoughts on retro-insulating the central skylight? I hate the giant hole in my roof…

Townie | 11 years and 5 months ago

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Second DIBS suggestion on central staircase skylight. Also lots of heat loss under/around original brownstone front doors and vestibule.

mykonos | 11 years and 5 months ago

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Thank you !! M

Arkady | 11 years and 5 months ago

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Yes, the insulation of the cockloft is of utmost importance.

daveinbedstuy | 11 years and 5 months ago

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And very importantly, make sure that the installation of the front and rear windows is done properly with a lot of expandable foam all around them. Just having blown in insulation in the cockloft above the top fl;oor ceiling makes a huge difference. And no old-style leaky skylights

dazednconfused2 | 11 years and 5 months ago

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Assuming you have houses on either side of you, the party walls will not lose much heat. It’s the front and back you need to worry about. We typically fur out the sheetrock on 1 5/8″ studs and put rigid insulation in the cavity. Even better, would be if you could do blown-in foam insulation like Icynene, Biobased or others like that. Traditional batt insulation won’t provide much value if it’s only a couple inches thick. You can also do the spray at the roof, or you can just do batt as it’s cheaper and you have the space for it there. If you’re re-doing the roof, you might also consider a layer of rigid on top of the roof decking. It can be laid down in a continuous layer without the gaps created by roof joists.

timber | 11 years and 5 months ago

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#1\. roof #2 exterior walls #3 be happy that you’re probably well-insulated by row houses on either side of you