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I agree, this is ridiculous California virtue-signaling at its finest and will result in a heck of a lot of unintended consequences (just like prop 13 has) - me

I agree, this is ridiculous California virtue-signaling at its finest and will result in a heck of a lot of unintended consequences (just like prop 13 has) - meanwhile many of the houses in my city were built in the 30s and 40s and have plaster walls, no insulation, no heat return, single pane glass etc which results in easily 10x more energy use for heating than modern construction would, but can't be rebuilt with modern materials because of the expense and difficulty of building new homes thanks to wrongheaded legislation like this.

pkaye 8y ago
Not really. You can blow in insulation into walls and attic. Air seal the house. Replace the windows with better ones. These regulations do not drive up the cost to upgrade existing houses.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  When the regulation requires that modifications bring things up to the new code and you've got decades of regulations like that piled up the most reasonable options are touch nothing or rebuild the entire house
  - pkaye 8y ago
    In most places you are not forced to upgrade everything to code just because you added insulation or new windows.
  - Broken_Hippo 8y ago
    Most places are rather prudent about that stuff. In Indiana, for example, you don't have to upgrade the electrical system if you are adding insulation, replacing windows, or replacing the roof. You may or may not need to upgrade your electric to replace a plug, mostly because some older systems aren't grounded. It is possible to rewire a single room without upgrading the entire house. You don't need to upgrade the plumbing while you upgrade the electrical, just like you don't need to upgrade the electrical if you are treating the asbestos (a problem my parents had with an old house built in 1918). Most times, whatever you are fixing needs to be up to code but not everything. If it weren't reasonable, it wouldn't be prudent to buy an old house without detailed upkeep and upgrade records.
- jaggederest 8y ago
  The current "best wall we know how to make" is sufficiently different from the existing walls that it basically becomes new construction. Siding or brick, four to six inches of rigid foam overlapping insulation, a fully sealed waterproof, windproof membrane, structural sheathing, 2x4 or 2x6 framing, internal wallboard, latex paint. Consider the existing state of most of those houses: Painted sheathing or siding, 2x4 framing, fiberglass batt insulation with kraft paper vapor barrier inside the framing, wall board, latex paint. Essentially the only piece you get to keep is the 2x4s, assuming you come at it from the inside. If you come at it from the outside, you can do marginally better by keeping the interior walls, but you also have to brace the structure while you replace the exterior sheathing since it's almost always structurally loaded.
- woolvalley 8y ago
  Wont that insulation rot eventually since there is no water sealing?
  - pkaye 8y ago
    Blow in insulation is fairly common. A small hole is drilled into the walls and cellulose fibers are pumped in. If you have water leaking through walls you have bigger problems that need to be fixed anyway.

pkaye 8y ago

Not really. You can blow in insulation into walls and attic. Air seal the house. Replace the windows with better ones. These regulations do not drive up the cost to upgrade existing houses.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
When the regulation requires that modifications bring things up to the new code and you've got decades of regulations like that piled up the most reasonable options are touch nothing or rebuild the entire house
- pkaye 8y ago
  In most places you are not forced to upgrade everything to code just because you added insulation or new windows.
- Broken_Hippo 8y ago
  Most places are rather prudent about that stuff. In Indiana, for example, you don't have to upgrade the electrical system if you are adding insulation, replacing windows, or replacing the roof. You may or may not need to upgrade your electric to replace a plug, mostly because some older systems aren't grounded. It is possible to rewire a single room without upgrading the entire house. You don't need to upgrade the plumbing while you upgrade the electrical, just like you don't need to upgrade the electrical if you are treating the asbestos (a problem my parents had with an old house built in 1918). Most times, whatever you are fixing needs to be up to code but not everything. If it weren't reasonable, it wouldn't be prudent to buy an old house without detailed upkeep and upgrade records.
jaggederest 8y ago
The current "best wall we know how to make" is sufficiently different from the existing walls that it basically becomes new construction. Siding or brick, four to six inches of rigid foam overlapping insulation, a fully sealed waterproof, windproof membrane, structural sheathing, 2x4 or 2x6 framing, internal wallboard, latex paint. Consider the existing state of most of those houses: Painted sheathing or siding, 2x4 framing, fiberglass batt insulation with kraft paper vapor barrier inside the framing, wall board, latex paint. Essentially the only piece you get to keep is the 2x4s, assuming you come at it from the inside. If you come at it from the outside, you can do marginally better by keeping the interior walls, but you also have to brace the structure while you replace the exterior sheathing since it's almost always structurally loaded.
woolvalley 8y ago
Wont that insulation rot eventually since there is no water sealing?
- pkaye 8y ago
  Blow in insulation is fairly common. A small hole is drilled into the walls and cellulose fibers are pumped in. If you have water leaking through walls you have bigger problems that need to be fixed anyway.