Insulation of older homes

[TOM F. CRAWFORD]

I have come to the conclusion that I am the only
person in the whole wide world that wants to insulate
the exterior walls of his home. Because the only answer I have received was from someone thru
staff saying thats a good idea do it. Ok,
what kind of foam, where do I get it, how much do I
use to keep from pushing the brick off the wall.
What kind of R-value can I expect,is it worth it the
amount of work I will have to do? What will the cost be
per sq.ft.
Does any one have any ideas?

Tom crawford

[Dick Wilson]

Is it practiacal to insulate the walls of an
old home? I have done the attics — and now I can feel the cold through the walls.
In northern Michigan i need more. And I don’t want to take the wood siding off or drill holes.

Can it be done from inside???
HELP!

[lisa hoffman]

I have the same dilemna with my 140 year old house and another lil one on othe property. They still have their clapboard siding underneath insulbrick. I would love to redo the siding someday however, I worry of upkeep and the insulation factor too. The only thing from experience I can tell you is that in one room I redid I tore down the walls and insulated. It is one of the warmest rooms in the house. In the other room I figured I would tear down the outside walls someday but in the meantime I enclosed everything real tightly. There is no place for the cold to come through now with just painting and caulking. That now too is one of the warmest rooms in this house(I don’t think I will tear down the walls and insulate in there now). In the livingroom which needs done desparately, they cheaply paneled and every nook and cranny and cut hole for cable the air comes running in through. In the kitchen, on the outside walls they were damaged by jacking the house up to put in a better foundation, I will have no remorse of tearing down those walls and insulating. When I can leave original I try to but if its damaged beyond repair then I wouldn’t feel bad. I think too if you make the siding tight on the outside of your house it would help too.

[Darren Boulware]

I have just purchased and am in the process of restoring a 19th century home in central Alabama. I have insulated the newly built upstair and the addition we put on the home but I have not yet done the exterior walls or the floors. I too am looking for any suggestions that anyone may have on the subject. The only option that I have been given here is to have fiberglass blown into the walls from the outside after drilling about a hundres holes into the wood siding. This does not sound all that good to me since the company that gave me the quote said that I would be responsible for drilling and fixing all of the holes in the house. I have heard that there are basically three options. 1)The blown in fiberglass 2) Blown in wet or dry cellulose or 3) A type of foam that is blown into the walls. None of the above options have proven to be very cost effective. I would appriciate any additional information on the subject.

Darren Boulware
Equality, Alabama

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