Plans for keeping house warm?

[EweSheep]

My house is too darn cold! Even at 68 degrees I am still cold! got blankets and layers of clothes. Must be me LOL!

However we live in the brick house with plaster and lathe walls and I can not figure out how we can install insulation. I remember redoing the bathroom, installing a window with my father, there was a gap between the studs and brick which it probably a good foot empty space. No insulation at all except upstairs floor. Nothing on the roofing either. Wooden floors throughout the house. No insulation on the bottom of first floor and no insulation in basement walls or basement ceilings.

The north and west sides are awful, you can feel the cold draft feel to it even we had new replacement windows installed.

Spray foam or rolled insulation? I am not sure how insulation can between the brick wall and studs without getting any kind of moisture, since we do need to get the bricks repointed. This house is built in 1938 I believe. Would the installers need to put holes in my walls to put in insulation or take the brick out?????? We do not have alot of money an dtime to tear out walls but if we do, it might be the way to go but it wont happen in a few years.

Or do we need to rearrange the furniture? I can put the TV and sofa on the cold walls and move the recliners inside walls.

The old heat ducts, one in a room, is in the inside wall instead of under the windows. We have two huge cold air ducts, one in hallway and one in living room. (is it a real need for TWO cold air ducts???)

The warmest room is my daughters room. Nice and toasty. Bathroom is the next warmest. I know we installed insulation on the outside wall and one side of inside wall (behind it is the stairs going downstairs). Rest of the rooms are cooler and uninsulated.

Maybe I should turn up the heat a bit more this year!

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Blown in insulation would be the way to go I would think, I'm going to post a link here to a Bob Villa article on it that explains the different types better than I can. We do a lot of remodel work with older homes and it's quite popular here as opposed to ripping out ceilings & walls for lay-in insulation.

http://www.bobvila.com/HowTo_Librar...w_In_Insulation_Options-Insulation-A1781.html

 

[calicokat]

We also have plaster walls, and they just seem to hold the cold. It's great in summer (we don't have AC) but not so keen in winter!!

Try a freestanding heater (the oil kind, look like old radiators). We use one on the main floor and move it to whatever room we are all in (Kitchen for homework and cooking dinner, living room for TV, etc.) throughout the evening. It does very well at heating the room and lets us keep the thermostat lower for the rooms we aren't in. Doesn't raise the electric bill much either, which suprised me.

 

[ranchhand]

Blown in insulation is great. But they do drill about a 2-3" diameter hole in the walls, all over the place. You can actually do it yourself, not very difficult. Patching the walls was the hardest part!

I just hung pictures over some of the patches,

 

[Royd]

If you could determine where the studs are, you could access it from the inside. Here would be the steps which I would take.

1. Find studs
2. Determine if there is any fireblocking or crossbracing, especially, if it's a two story house. If no crossbracing is found,
3. Get a holesaw the size of the tubing, used to blow the insulation.
4. Drill a hole, near the ceiling, between every stud.
5. Blow in the insulation. If you can feed the tube down into the wall, you will insure complete filling.
6. Patch each hole, with plaster.... You'll never hide the patch. Noone is that good.
7. Install crown moulding, or decorative paper, to cover the patches.

 

[bargain]

We did the blowin insulations....That helped the most!!!!

Replacing the windows....one at a time (for us) with thermal ones is helping....must do it slowly here because of budget....

Window covering helps(even that plastic will keep drafts out);. A friend puts up heavy blankets and then covers with curtains.....Really warms things up.

Get a storm door...C list often has those for free.

Did you know that in castles, that's why the wall hangings were originally there to warm the place up.

Caulk where there are leaks

You'll be amazed how much cold comes at the doors,,,,even just rolling up a towel or making a "sand" snake helps there.

Consider a relocation plan.....

If daughters room is the warmest, what about making that the "winter" family room...

Then get some warm and cozy slippers and head coverings...Sometimes, I wear a knitted cap inside....There's no rule against it and most of the heat is lost through our head and when my feet are cold, that's it....I'm miserable.

MOSt energy co-ops will do an energy audit for you for free and show you where you are losing the most energy out the window....

Hope this helps!

 

[McCord6]

Quote:
I feel ya. It was pretty good all week until today. It's too DARN COLD! We dont have any insulation in the house, old house built by landlady's grandfather. We have heaters on right now. All windows are covered with old blankets.

HEY WASHINGTONIANS! YOU CAN HAVE YOUR WET COLD RAINY WEATHER BACK! I MOVED TO FLORIDA TO GET AWAY FROM THAT! NOT TO BRING IT WITH ME! bbbbbbbrrrrrrrr......

 

[Joz]

CONSULT AN INSULATION SPECIALIST.

Brick walls require cavities and weep holes to allow for condensation. If you fill all these areas with foam, the water that gets behind the brick will not be able to get back out, thus resulting in all sorts of icky moldy possibilities. There's a very fine balance of water and temperature that happens in these houses; don't inadvertantly throw it off by filling a 12" wall cavity.

 

[EweSheep]

I might have to find a specialist because the way the house is built. Many times I have thought about tearing off the bricks and replacing it with siding and do insulation at the same time. However I am guessing it would be a major job because I have NO idea how it was put together, its not like a fireplace but have some kind of bracing to hold it all up. It is a two story house. Something is going to give here. With the work that it would take to repoint the bricks and fix cracked or broken bricks...the south and west walls takes the worst of it, it might be cheaper to get it ripped off and side it.

Pros and cons??????

We got new windows so it is not the problem. Its the darn walls and floorboards that are so cold!

 

[michickenwrangler]

I'd invest in a set of heavy drapes, get some kind of "door warmer" for outside doors (rolled up sweatshirts can work if nothing else) and likewise for windows. Get in the habit of wearing layers around the house, I do. Do you have hardwood floors? Linoleum? Carpeting? All of the above?