In my old house the studs are 2″ thick by 4″ thick. Which insulation do I use: The one designed for 2×6 framing or 2×4 framing. The insulation is owens corning kraft paper backed fiberglass insulation. In addition, my studs are 20″ oc. I know that I can make the spacing smaller to fit 16″ oc by adding studs but the depth (stud +furring strips) is 4.5″ which leaves a 1″ gap to the exterior wall; what do I do here? Thank You in Advance
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Replies
Would you be adverse
To blowing in celulose? That would fit the space and fill the gaps.
Thanks for the response..The house is stucco.. I'll get the 24" ins. thanks
If you can't do what Cal sez
then use R-21 x 24" batts and compress them in there. Using 3-1/2" insulation in a 4" bay is tragic.
Seems to me that the R-21 over the R-19 would be a bit of a waste.
Seems like you can get an extra 2 R's
by going with 21 over 19, and I bet the cost difference is not great. Hey, he could go with 4" isofoam and get R-28 with no convection issues.
Ideally? Cellulose as another poster said.
Also ... do not install more studs for a 16" spacing!! You would still have to cut insulation and it would be more work. Use the thicker batts and compress it. It will be way more than R-11, but not the full R-19. 20" spacing ... pretty odd, but sounds old, too.
Look up "Mooney Wall" in the
Look up "Mooney Wall" in the archieves, it's a method of applying a breathable mesh, then blowing in cellulose insulation behind it. It will absolutely kick the crap out of anything you are thinking about with fiberglass batts, without costing more money.
I would say the Mooney wall term
applies to the horizontal strapping, the mesh and blown-in are SOP for many insulators. Definitely a good idea to add thickness and reduce thermal bridging if you can afford the slight loss of floor space.
1" foam?
1" foam?
I don't know what your
I don't know what your timeline and budget are. A system I was introduced to on a SF home with a similar situation to yours a year back proved interesting and might be worth looking into. In this remodeling case the wall was out of plum 1 1/2" in 8' 2"(2nd flr, balloon framed with old 19 1/4" stud spacing that matched the sagging 2x4 rafters and ceiling joists---very old house, 110+yrs). We placed rigid foam 3/4"(R3 or 4 ???) in every stud bay out to the sheathing and ran a bead of spray foam around the perimiter of each. Sistering in 2x4s to existing wall studs plummed up the wall and gave us an average of 4.5" in depth. This called for R19 fiberglass. The offset studs provided a thermo break and the combo insulation technic made for a nice wall R value(approx. R21 after factoring loss due to some compression of the fiberglass)---no internal vapor barrier/retarder other than what the fiberglass batts come with.