A quickie about insulation. Only so much R value can be developed with limited space. Depth is needed for R value. Manufacture R values can be deceptive. They might make it to 85% of what they say in perfect conditions = the cavity is air sealed and the selected insulation is installed at the exact thickness as the manufacturers specs. ie. 4 inches of fiberglass can "optimally" get you to R 12 - In the real world more like R 10 if air sealed. For me air sealing is the most important part of insulating. If air is flowing in, around and through insulation it can not do it's job of maintaining all of the small air pockets that helps prevent heat transfer ( same concept of layering clothes when it is cold. Think about this -- unzip your jacket and the jacket can not maintain the warm air between you and the jacket. ) Take a look at the charts on pages 7 and 8 of this PDF. They are a nice reference when insulating. http://www.bpi.org/Web Download/BPI Standards/Building Analyst Professional_2-28-05nNC-newCO.pdf
Interesting read. I found this excellent information, "Insulation that has turned black is an indicator of air movement through the insulation". I thought the black on all the insulation I removed from exterior walls was evidence of moisture / mold - but apparently not. I know there was plenty of air movement thru the insulation as there were no vapor/air barriers, the rockwool insulation was about 2" thick (in 4" walls), and then there was the 9" gap between the top of the wall plywood and the ceiling along the entire exterior of the house (think that was a big clue about air movement?).
I'm leary of the overfilled insulation too. I did end up using some R15 in the wall around the door (left over from another project) and although it's meant for 2x4 walls I really had to compress it when compared to the normal R11 or R13. I went back to R13 for the other walls....guess it's a comfort zone thing. Just like what was mentioned the studs themselves transmit the cold unless covered with board insulation. This of course brings the average R value of the wall down. Since I'm only doing the interior of house I decided to take advantage of a very thick (about 7/8") existing drywall to put up some pink board. I used left over fanfold insulation (2 layers) over the studs that were filled with R13. When I bought the house it came with a dozen or so sheets of 1/2" sheet rock, so I can slap that up over the fanfold to match the existing drywall in areas I did not take it off.
That was good thinking - to use a combination of foam and dry wall to match the existing 7/8 dry wall.
Got a little time to work on the "lodge" after work last night. The kitchen/entry was an addition one of the previous owners put on. It has a small crawl space below it and the floor is uninsulated. Walking on the kitchen floor with bare feet is an eye opener in the winter months! So channeling yooperdave I crawled back in there and put up some R30 Batts with wire supports. As you can see I ran out of insulation plus I'm going to replace the old wiring to some kitchen outlets, so I'll be back! Maddie got some drywalling done while I was insulating. Not to be too negative but I usually end up doing a lot of the work...she doesn't set drywall screws any further up than about 12" above the floor.
Get her a set of steps and she'll rock the drywall to no end ! She's a much bigger help than my cats - they take all the fun stuff, i.e. napping, and leave the rest to me
schlot , we just did the same thing over at my brother's place. We built his family room a few years ago, but he opted to not insulate the floor joists. Pretty sure it's a 20X24' room, and it took 3 of us less than 1.5 hrs. We redid the floors in that room a couple years ago with tile, and they'd been complaining how cold the floor is. DOH! Gooder now.
Good idea! You betcha...I could feel the difference this morning, between where I got insulation installed and where there still isn't any. I bet that made a huge difference!
Haven't been back over there since we did it, and haven't talked to him about it either. I'm in the dark. Nuttin' new. No news is good news.....right?
AARRRRGGGGGGGHH! What the heck are you trying to do to me schlot ?? I just end the work week and one of the first pics is a crawl space???? Gonna have to start the therapy before she gets home today......
Picked up some more R30 insulation, but I need to also pick up a bug bomb for under there. After crawling back and forth on my belly last time I had what I thought was a rash on my chest from scraping along the rock floor, but a day later I could see it looked like a bunch of bug bites. Doh!
