Questions tagged [insulation]
Insulation is any material used to slow the transmission of heat or reduce the transmission of sound. Typical materials include fiberglass, foam, blown cellulose, and reflective foil. This should not be confused with weather stripping.
1,823
questions
0
votes
0
answers
10
views
Framing basement wall against blanket wrap insulation in tight corner
My house, located in SE Michigan, was built in 2012 and basement left unfinished by the builder. The basement is insulated with a wall wrap insulation blanket that is rated at R-11. The blanket is ...
- 101
0
votes
0
answers
18
views
How do I tackle insulating rim joists with brick in a partially finished basement
I have done a fair bit of research on this, but still left with a dilemma. Here's some basics:
1920s single level, brick built home (see photos linked below). Exterior brick is painted.
located in ...
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
29
views
What's the easiest way to circulate air in the attic of my garage?
I have an unfinished attached ~20'x20' two car garage and I would like to finish it so I can use 1 bay as a wood shop year-round. I live in Missoula, MT and really just want to keep it above ~40F in ...
- 1
1
vote
1
answer
37
views
Condensation/mold on ceiling in bedroom + high humidity
I am having a strange issue wherein along the exterior/west-facing wall of my bedroom (~110sqft/750sqft house) at the junction with the ceiling there appears to be mold growing and some pretty faint ...
0
votes
0
answers
53
views
New Construction Basement Subfloor/Finishing System
Moved into a new construction home at the end of 2022 with an unfinished basement in Iowa. Starting to research DIY options and am starting with the subfloor and cant come to a conclusion on "...
- 1
1
vote
2
answers
50
views
Trying to insulate a radiator steam pipe exposed in my bedroom
Have an exposed radiator pipe in my bedroom, which clearly supplies steam to other units in the building, so its always "on", regardless of whether my radiator is on or not. This makes the ...
- 11
0
votes
0
answers
24
views
Filling gaps between stone wall and floor to stop draught?
Just moved into an old 1900s tenement building (UK). The bay window in the living room has a small bench built under it which has a freezing cold draught coming from the floor below. What would be ...
- 101
0
votes
0
answers
36
views
What is this old loft insulation?
Looking to insulate my house loft, there is nothing between the joists however between the battens there is this (see images) it's 10mm thick and against the hessian felt, looks extremely dated and ...
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
35
views
What are my options for a low ceiling garage door opener?
I have a two car garage with a low ceiling and limited side wall space. Whoever installed the two garage door openers decided that they needed the head room and cut out a strip of drywall running the ...
- 379
0
votes
0
answers
18
views
Insulating Rim Joists Missouri Zone 4 (cold winters and humid summers)
Basement currently has R13 batt insulation installed in rim joist. I was planning on cutting foam board pieces between each joist and spray foam in the nooks.
My question is, should I remove the ...
1
vote
0
answers
64
views
I have doubled up Polysterene 2mm on wall insulation to make 4mm is this ok
I recently applied 2mm polystyrene insulation to my walls with thermal adhesive. I now feel that 4mm would have been better, can I apply adhesive on top of the polystyrene and then add another layer ...
- 11
0
votes
0
answers
18
views
Can I insulate main floorboards overhead hvac/ducts in basement?
My Hvac is in unfinished basement and part of it is crawl space which is rock. Built 1900. Is it okay to insulate my exposed floor boards of main house? Which is the ceiling of hvac/ducts/basement. No ...
- 1
1
vote
2
answers
32
views
Stopping draught between bottom of plasterboard and floor UK
I'm trying to stop a cold spot coming from under my kitchen units.
When removing the kickboards, we can see that there is the usual gap between the base of plasterboard/drywall and concrete floor (the ...
- 11
2
votes
1
answer
75
views
Newly installed patio door with gap between fixed and sliding doors
Last week I had a patio door installed and everything looked right to me. However, I noticed that there was a gap between the fixed and sliding doors. I'm not a contractor so I did not think much of ...
- 23
1
vote
1
answer
69
views
Protect deck wooden ceiling from outdoor gas heater
My wife's 50th birthday is coming up this December, and she decided to have a big party. We will need to use our deck (it's some type of ground-floor balcony rather than a traditional open deck) to ...
- 338
2
votes
1
answer
69
views
How to insulate Rim Joist with no sill plate?
I recently had an energy audit/blower door test on my 1963 single-story ranch home in SE Michigan. They noted a lot of air infiltration along the baseboards, and recommended pro sprayfoaming the rim ...
- 21
0
votes
2
answers
91
views
Struggling to find an installer to insulate the cavities in my loft [closed]
I'm not a builder or an expert by any stretch of the imagination, so please forgive me in advance.
For context, I live in a 1960s mid-terrace 3-bed ex-council house in East Sussex, UK. We have a loft ...
- 159
0
votes
2
answers
59
views
Any tricks for dealing with blown-in insulation when replacing recessed LED lights?
My kitchen has a dozen 4” LED pot lights that were installed by the previous owner. We've been here a couple of years so they aren't new, but aren't exactly old either. Recently a few have started to ...
- 11
0
votes
1
answer
62
views
How to best insulate my garage roof
We live in Milwaukee WI so it gets fairly cold in the winter, I'd like to use my garage as a gym over the winter and am getting started with insulating it. I used Owens-Corning R15 batts for the walls,...
- 101
0
votes
1
answer
15
views
How can I extend the chimney insulation shield before adding cellulose?
I'm adding 12 inches on blown cellulose on top of the existing fiberglass. There is a shield around the chimmney duct but it is not long enough, see:
The cellulose will enter in contact with the hot ...
- 103
0
votes
0
answers
22
views
"Smart" vapor barriers
.Hi, all!
I've been working through insulating my kitchen. Had a drywall guy out who'll be patching all my stuff. He suggested that in his exp poly vapor barrier tended to create moisture problems. I ...
- 139
0
votes
2
answers
59
views
Old garage conversion to ADU: insulation question
I have a 2 x 4 framed garage. Years ago I insulated it with R13 fiberglass batts. Then I wrapped the whole garage in 1 inch EPS (R4), and put T1-11 over it. This worked just fine when it was a shop....
- 11
1
vote
1
answer
70
views
Advice on electrical socket fixing into wood fibre internal wall insulation
Our house has recently been insulated with Pavatex wood fibre boards, with a finishing coat of lime plaster on top.
I now want to add more electrical sockets. Standard UK style.
Ideally the back boxes ...
- 243
0
votes
0
answers
43
views
Party wall construction in Ewardian house
I have a brick party wall between my house and my neighbors and we need to build a fire retardant wall above the bricks in the eaves of the building.
As far as I have understood building regs here in ...
- 1
0
votes
1
answer
37
views
Wall insulation
A few walls in my home are not insulated properly and I would like to add something before the cold weather here in NYC. The wall is more than 10 feet wide and more then likely wood studs every 16”. ...
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
48
views
Fiberglass insulation above grade in basement
We have an unfinished basement that we want to finish. The walls are bare concrete and there is no subfloor. In the exterior, it seems there is a vapor barrier (we have the tar marks on the wall) . We ...
1
vote
2
answers
279
views
Dust like particules covers the attic floor. Is that the insulation material?
I went to my attic today and took a few pictures. Here is one which shows the "dust" that covers most of the attic (as far as I could tell, it's all over). So I would imagine this is ...
- 265
1
vote
1
answer
53
views
First finishing project: Attic or Basement for office/studio? [closed]
First time homeowner here, 100 year-old brick bungalo in Chicago where we have very cold Winters and hot Summers. I have my choice of an unfinished basement or unfinished attic to build my home office/...
- 13
1
vote
0
answers
24
views
Insulation and added timbers in attic problem
I have stripped most of the attic (was an unregistered conversion) and the rafters have what seems to be additional timber on them which aligned with the previous wall/roof covering. The timbers ...
- 11
0
votes
0
answers
28
views
advice on gambrel roof garage with 2nd floor apartment
1st time home owner, plan to keep property long term so like to do things the best way possible for long term. Doing as much myself as possible.
Looking for advice on completing apartment above a ...
- 1
1
vote
2
answers
152
views
Should I replace, repair, or leave this OSB?
Removed some drywall next to the garage door opening and found a couple of large holes in the OSB.
Water main enters the wall on the other side of the lower hole and it looks like some water pipes ...
- 35
0
votes
0
answers
41
views
First Home and a Renovation
We are buying our first home and it's a shell currently and it's roughly 70 years old.
I want to insulate the house as much as possible and I came up with an idea for a multi-layer approach for ...
0
votes
0
answers
33
views
Do I need to insulate the walls in this attic cavity?
I have vaulted ceilings in the kitchen and dining room. The walls in the attic for that cavity are not insulated but the roof (rafters) are. I have added some insulation to the floor (ceiling above ...
- 193
1
vote
1
answer
70
views
Can GreatStuff "Pro" cans be layered to achieve the same thickness as "Big Gap Filler?"
all!
For some reason Great Stuff offers all of their cans in Pro style, but not the Big Gap Filler. I have 3"-ish gap between a base plate and a floor joist in the basement that has very little ...
- 139
1
vote
2
answers
56
views
How best to air seal kitchen pantry ceiling
We just moved in and had an energy audit done by a professional, and they flagged that we were losing a ton of air through the ceiling in our kitchen pantry/ closet. The ceiling itself is a weird ...
- 13
3
votes
2
answers
774
views
Is it worthwhile to cover fiberglass insulation with Tyvek under a house?
I have a raised home in New Orleans, where the weather is hot and humid 2/3 of the year, but it can get quite cold for brief periods in the winter.
The house is about 100 years old and there is some ...
- 133
0
votes
0
answers
18
views
insulating a new room in garage
I have a 2 story garage with a loft running down the middle and leaving a lot of open space between the ground floor and roof. I'm making a temperature controlled room and the walls are built already. ...
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
20
views
Garage insulation questions
I am looking to add some insulation to my garage. The ceiling is fully insulated, but only the back half of the walls are. The front half is just bare studs with the exterior wall. Our main bedroom ...
0
votes
0
answers
30
views
How much ventilation does a 30x30 detached garage need?
Let me start by saying we are in Houston. Very hot and humid during the summertime which lasts half the year.
I have a 30x30 detached garage that I would like to fully insulate and drywall. It has 8ft ...
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
75
views
How can I install vapor barrier to an exterior wall from the outside?
I am insulating the garage portion of the house inside my garage. I will remove the siding and fiberboard used in the 60s. There is no insulation in the house. How do I get a vapor barrier without ...
0
votes
1
answer
49
views
How should I add insulation to a metal shed?
I'm making a metal shed for sleeping in and working in. I think I'm going to do some slight 2x4 framing on the inside to be able to add some fiberglass insulation then drywall over that.
Should I add ...
- 1
0
votes
2
answers
104
views
Is it ok to use fiberglass insulation to insulated a garden hose for winter?
I'm off grid using a garden hose for running water. Would it be okay for me to wrap fiberglass insulation around the garden hose to hopefully prevent it from freezing this winter? I plan on putting ...
- 1
1
vote
1
answer
84
views
Insulating back of wall from attic space
I have a 3rd floor area with a crawl space all around it with some failing 2x4 bats of insulation, the critters and age have it rolling off the back side of the walls. I was just going to place the ...
- 59
0
votes
0
answers
42
views
Am I taking the appropriate approach to insulate + properly ventilate my attic?
I have a question about the ventilation + insulation of my attic space, and what needs to be done to correct it. I apologize if any of my terms are incorrect, as I am certainly no engineer or ...
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
33
views
How can I insulate exterior stuccoed walls from the interior side?
I am renovating two rooms of an old house and have removed the interior lathe/plaster with the intent to replace it with drywall. The walls were not insulated. My plan is to insulate these walls from ...
- 1
1
vote
2
answers
57
views
Insulating Void In Attic Above Stairwell
I am a fairly new homeowner. I own a "raised ranch" style home in suburban Chicago (main floor above grade, mostly furnished basement below). The stairs to the basement are roughly in the ...
- 13
0
votes
3
answers
119
views
Insulating under built-in bump out
The built in cabinet in my 1923 MN home gets very cold in the winter. Drinks stored there have exploded in the past. It looks like the prior owner attempted to insulate it, but I'd like to try again ...
- 189
-1
votes
2
answers
34
views
true flat roof - insulation [closed]
Have 3 virtually flat roofs(1:12 and less) on structures that tie into main house. Remodeling under city permit. There is no room for blown. Ceiling joists are also roof rafters. Stuck on how to ...
-1
votes
1
answer
78
views
Basement subfloor (dricore) with existing exterior framing & insulation
Basement subfloor (Dricore) with existing exterior framing & insulation
I have a 2016-built house in Ottawa, Ontario with a basement that is largely unfinished (only the landing area was finished ...
- 1
1
vote
1
answer
110
views
Is it okay to have an air handler in an uninsulated attic or will the air handler have to work harder?
We live in CT -- so cold winters. I don't know all the right/technical terms, but this is our situation:
Split level ranch (two floors plus attic)
Gas furnace and gas water heater in the basement
Air ...
- 237