3 ms·

> Insulating walls had much less effect than I anticipated. I wonder if that's due to air already being a decent insulator and walls have sizeable air voids. A

> Insulating walls had much less effect than I anticipated. I wonder if that's due to air already being a decent insulator and walls have sizeable air voids. As long as you cut out the drafts, the air in the walls should remain a decent insulator. It's also my understanding that the draft treatments are at least as important as the insulation work which is done when retro-fitting insulation. One reason attic insulation would make a much larger difference is most homes with attics use vented soffits designed to encourage airflow. They are built to be drafty and you can't seal up those drafts without redesigning things.

MarkMarine 3y ago
Depends what your walls look like inside. If it’s balloon framed with no blocking, you’ll have a good convection current inside the wall. The moisture concerns when trying to add insulation to an old uninsulated house are real, in service of saving a few thousand dollars of heating costs you could literally destroy your house and your health with mold.
- zer00eyz 3y ago
  Someone is going to come by and look at your comment and raise an eyebrow. The building trade and construction is filled with nerds, amazing products, cheats and snake oil... so just like tech but less VC'c. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_science building nerds are on point and doing all kinds of cool stuff. If you want the modern version of bob villa this old house is probably this: https://www.youtube.com/@buildshow https://www.youtube.com/@buildshow . It will give you some clues as to what is going on in modern construction.
  - MarkMarine 3y ago
    Oh I’ve seen buildshow. I have also seen him talking about mistakes he made in the older designs he had. I would be real cautious about letting a builder at a lower tier than him beta test their ideas on moisture control inside my walls when I’m the test dummy inside.

MarkMarine 3y ago

Depends what your walls look like inside. If it’s balloon framed with no blocking, you’ll have a good convection current inside the wall. The moisture concerns when trying to add insulation to an old uninsulated house are real, in service of saving a few thousand dollars of heating costs you could literally destroy your house and your health with mold.

zer00eyz 3y ago
Someone is going to come by and look at your comment and raise an eyebrow. The building trade and construction is filled with nerds, amazing products, cheats and snake oil... so just like tech but less VC'c. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_science building nerds are on point and doing all kinds of cool stuff. If you want the modern version of bob villa this old house is probably this: https://www.youtube.com/@buildshow https://www.youtube.com/@buildshow . It will give you some clues as to what is going on in modern construction.
- MarkMarine 3y ago
  Oh I’ve seen buildshow. I have also seen him talking about mistakes he made in the older designs he had. I would be real cautious about letting a builder at a lower tier than him beta test their ideas on moisture control inside my walls when I’m the test dummy inside.