I have an 1939 Cape Cod home and am upgrading my insulation so I wanted to know about one of the plaster walls. The wall is located between the stairwell to the basement and the living room. The stairs that go to the 2nd story floor is also btween this wall and living room. The basement is a half basement not finish with the other half a crawl space with thick plastic sheets on the ground. Would insulating this wall help? The wall is in the middle of the house.
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Depends, although I'd say you should enclose your basement in the thermal envelope and isolate the crawl from the basement. If you insulate the liv rm/stair wall, you'd have to insulate the opposite wall, too ... and the stairs themselves. Even if the basement is left uninsulated for now, I'd leave it as a buffer space.
Insulate or not
So what type of insulation would be suited for these walls? I plan to put pegboard over the insulation for more storage. Closeing in the crawlspace sounds right too so that'll be part of the plan to enclose it with an access door.
Pay your money, take your choice. With insulation you usually get what you pay for. Pegboard over insulation? Might need to consider drywall first ... may be required for getting a fire rating as insulation is often required to be covered. BIB cellulose is often a system of choice. It provides good coverage. Some people are sold on foams. I just tried the Dow Safetouch batt insulation ... no fiberglass to irritate your lungs. No real mess, either. Doesn't cut very well, though, like fiberglass. If you do fiberglass, do a good job ... performance depends on a reasonably meticulous install.
Maybe this will generate some othe opinions/points of view from others. It's all good stuff. Install what you can afford. You will only do it once, so do it right.
Can we assume your interior wall surface is off and you have bare studs?