Wall Insulation - Some Practical Ideas

The walls of your house are one of the three most important parts (the others are the attic and the floor) that need insulation. During winter time, the wall insulation of your house will serve as hold to the heat and prevent warmth from escaping.

When insulated, your walls won’t feel ice-cold. Likewise, it will prevent condensation and the subsequent molds from forming. The main point is certainly the comfort of a home with the proper insulation of the walls.

Conditions

Homes that were built before 1972 usually do not have insulation in their walls. Some owners are not even aware their walls are empty and with no insulation.

During summer, the insulation of the walls will reduce the amount of heat coming in from the walls which helps maintain the coolness of your house. Most often referred to as the “hot walls”, the walls facing south and west are hit by the sun and heat them up.

When radiated by the sun, the heat radiates the house in turn, even after sundown. When these walls are insulated, the entrance of the heat into the insides of the house is dramatically reduced.

Insulating walls

Professionals and experts usually suggest that insulation of the walls should be done when the house is about to be re-painted, doing the stucco again, or when it is about to be coated with texture. The main reason is the many holes needed to be drilled on the walls.

The insulation for the wall cannot be injected from the attic area or from any part underneath the house. There is need to drill holes on the face of the walls, either from the exterior or interior areas.   

The process

Holes (2-inches each) are drilled in each bay, and made every 16 inches across. The walls are then injected with insulation until full and then plugged with Styrofoam. The stucco patching is applied and each patch is floated to match the standard stucco texture.

The patches dry up in a day and is then primed and painted right after. Some house owners want to repaint the entire home, others want only to color match the paint and paint each patch.

The drilling is from either the interior or the exterior of the house. When deciding to do the work from the inside, it is best that the house is empty and prepared for exposure to dust. (Most would choose to do the insulation work from the exterior because of the dust.)

Uses

Insulating the exterior walls of the house is generally for thermal purposes which is to keep the house cooler in summer and warmer in winter. The main idea is keeping a thermal barrier between the inside of your house and the outside environment.

Insulating the walls between bedrooms or other rooms of the house, it is usually to sound proof or reduce the noise between rooms. It would be redundant to insulate rooms for thermal purposes when the whole house is already insulated. Wall insulation, however, can be done in most rooms of the house.