How to Insulate an Older Brick Home

I have a brick home built in 1915, cinder block exterior, 11 ft ceilings, lathe and plaster throughout the 900 sf home. I currently have one old wall furnace that basically heats the one room. I don't use the electric baseboard as I have found it expensive and inefficient. I am considering forced air or hot water baseboard. This home stays quite cool in the summer and the reverse would probably work in the winter if I could get the place heated properly to begin with. We are freezing. I have thought of putting in wood/corn/pellet stove to heat the place but not many places to install it without cooking yourself out of that room. Which source of heat would you suggest so I am putting the money to use wisely?

You are correct about the fact that a stove will run you out of that room. Call is a pro HVAC man or two or three and get an assessment from them as well as bids. See if two of them come to the same conclusion.

hey Tim!
My wife and i have recently purchased a home which included a 4000sq ft barn w/ loft. This barn is a wood workers dream shop that needs insulating. I am considering erecting new walls with tyvac and insulating within actual structure to create a true/plumb wall. i am just wondering what your thoughts would be in order to save sq. footage to use existing walls to insulate and go from there? Take into account this barn is pre 1900's( very sound construction wise).

I would most likely do as you suggested. But I would only finish off as much space within the barn as I truly needed.

Dear Tim,
This story might sound like Bill's. I have a house built in 1915. Exterior is stucco and Interior walls are plaster. The plaster walls are cold to the touch and the windows are the rope and weight. I have a gas furnace it is high effiency, however, I was wandering is is possible to insulate the outer walls and again people are telling that the plaster is probably attached to the red brick's for the stucco and any suggestions and if I can insulate these walls. Michael B. Portland, IN

Michael,
Do a test. Make a hole inside your home on an exterior wall. See if it is brick or frame.

My home was built in 1930, and is also of brick construction. The outside is brick, and the inside looks like red blocks under texured plaster. In the winter these walls are cold, and the insides of my kitchen cabinets are nearly as cold as it is outside. Is there a way to apply something to the walls that will insulate them, maybe like a paint-on insulation that can then be painted over? The interior walls are uninsulated lath and plaster. Sounds are not stopped at all. The interior walls only seem to seperate the rooms from sight, not sound. Blowing in insulation seems like a good solution to not only deaden the sound, but allow each room to be heated separately. Does that sound right?

Henry,
St. Louis, Mo.

Henry,
Bad idea....... Read all of my past columns about sound control. As for heating, your idea would work only if each room was a separate zone and controlled by its own thermostat.

Okay, what about my exterior wall problem? As I stated in my previous post, they get extremely cold in the winter. So cold that they are cold to the touch and radiate that cold out a couple of inchs from them.

My kitchen cabinets are mounted to exterior walls, and therefore anything stored inside them ends up cold, near freezer like when it is in the single digits like today.

Henry,
St. Louis, Mo.

Henry,
I think you need to get bids from three different insulation contractors and ones from heating contractors. See what creative solutions they are providing for people like you. You can also consult with a residential architect that specializes in remodeling old masonry homes. You need people to come to your home. I can't see it from where I live.

Tim,
I also have house like some described above - built in 1942 with an outer brick layer, an inner brick layer with furring strips attached to the interior brick on which plaster was applied.

Given your advice above that it is not cost effective to attempt to put insulation inside the walls, would it be cost effective to attach insulation to the outside such as by attaching Tyvek or like boards to the outside brick and then covering that with siding - or is this also a waste of money? Thanks

Stephen,
You will never recapture that expense.

Hello Tim,
I've not read anything about the value of insulating an old brick home that has 2X4 frame construction behind the block. Is there a value there? Also, any experience or comments on Insuladd--the paint additive that claims to have insulating qualities similar to Low-E glass?
Thanks, Carl

Carl,
If you can easily fill the 2x4 void, then you are smart to do it. As always, you MUST calculate when you will break even on the cost to do the upgrade. It could take years before you break even. After that, you then begin to save money.
I think the jury is still out on those miracle paints. I have never been able to get my hands on any independent test data that backs up the claims made by the paint manufacturers.

Hello there, I have a house that was built in the 50's and there is no insulation in the walls. Two of our bedrooms are on exterior walls and are considerably colder than the rest of the house.

I have read all of your past comments and I've been thinking about this. Strapping the existing plaster wall with 1 x 2's, placing 1/4" or so pink solid insulation panels, a vapour barrier and then drywall.

Do you think this would work?

Jason,
That is a tremendous amount of work and expense for very little gain. I doubt the math works.

Tim,

I purchased an old 2 story brick bank built in the late 1880's. It is roughly 1400' per floor. I have totally guted the two above ground floors and am planning on glueing a 1/2 inch foil backed foam board to all interior walls and cileing and taping all seams. I am then going to 2x4 stud out all exterior walls inside of the foam. My question is about moisture bulding up between my foam and brick walls. Does this sound like an issue or am I on the right track?

Mike,
Why in the world would you put foil-faced foam on *interior* walls? That serves no purpose since each room is the same temperature.

As for the exterior walls, I like your plan of 2x4 walls. Insulate those and add a vapor barrier just before applying drywall to the studs.

Tim,

Let me see if I can explain a bit better. The top floor measures 30 x 50, it will be a loft with only 3 rooms, a bedroom, a bathroom and the rest will be open. The foil faced insulation will go up on all of the exterior walls prior to studding them out. The foam board will go up on the brick then the 2x4's will go up inside of the foam. I am not going to put the foam up between the rooms. Hopefully this makes more sense. I am shooting for an R-21(foam and insulation)on the exterior walls and a blown in R-40+ on the cieling.

Mike

We are researching the best insulation products for our existing 50+/- yr old 2 storey cape-cod home. In particular we are considering the "retrofoam" product (www.retrofoam.com)for our exterior walls. We have done test drilling and we have a 4 inch cavity available.

Are you familiar with this product and if so would you recommend it over, equal or less than cellulose blown into the walls?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Wendy Kirwin

Mike,
That sounds like a plan.

Hi Tim.

We have competely gutted a 100 year solid masonry home. Same 4 inch wide red bricks are used for both the inner and outer layer of th exterior walls, with 1/2 inch space between the layers.

The brick has little heat resistance, but it does have significant thermal mass. Don't want to alter the exterior aesthetics of the home, by adding exterior insulation and siding.

Would it be worthwhile, however, to try and spray insulation into the 1/2 inch gap between the brick layers of the exterior walls? This way we may still benefit somewhat from the thermal mass of the inner layer of bricks.

The inside of all exterior walls is currently completely exposed - the plaster and strapping was demolished and disposed of. We will frame with 2x4s around the exterior walls, to allow R-13 insulation, and then attach drywall - not willing to lose more interior space than that.

Wendy,
Sorry, I have not used it.

Dave,
You need to go back and read this column again. Then do the math...... How many *years* will it take you to break even?

Hi Tim,

I've read through all the posts, but didn't see this particular situation/solution. I too have a home built in the early 60's. It's all on one story with a crawl space. The home is block construction with the block as the exterior surface . The interior is 3/4 furring with drywall over it. My plan is to add onto the exterior a "curtain" wall constructed of dimension lumber, filling the void with foam insulation, and then installing sheathing and siding. What I am most unsure about is if there are any issues with having the insulation layer that far out (ie., condenstation on interior walls, or other temperature affected items). I haven't been able to find any mention of this type of solution in my research. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and any advice you can give.

Scott,
I would install 2 inches of rigid foam on the exterior of the block. Then I would build the curtain wall so that there is an air space between the foam and the wall. The windows and doors need to be relocated to the curtain wall.

Now the bigger question is: Will you ever recapture the massive money you are spending in energy savings? I think the answer is NO. But you do the math and let us know. Read my columns on Tankless Water Heaters to see what I am talking about. I also have one about Lifecycle Costs you should read.

i have a totaly cinder block home w/no insulation on exterior walls. my plan is to stud out ext. walls w/1" studs and use styrofoam sheets to insulate my question is moister. does wall need venting or not if so ware and how ? moister barier block side or drywall side.note i live in northern indina w/ exterem cold/wind in winter & hot humid summers.

rskil,
You need a vapor barrier on the foam just before you add the drywall.

I've read all of the helpful comments. Please tell me if this is an option for an older huge plastered home without insulation: what about putting a high R-value batting, a new framed wall, then sheetrock over the existing walls? Since there is such a small gap between the bricks and the existing sheetrock anyway, should adding a new wall to cover the existing wall be done if I don't mind losing a little square footage?

I am interested in having spray foam installed on the underneath my roof and the inside of the outer walls. The contractor told me the whole attic will be sealed & all outside air vents/ ridge vents will be sealed. Is this a good idea to save energy? Currently the floor of the attic is insulated & the attic is always cold in the winter & hot in the summer as it should be. I was under the impression attics have to breath. I am told by doing this the attic temp will pretty much stay constant. Is this ok?

My problem is similar. but not exactly the same: I have a 1936 brick home, brick exterior, framed with steel, and then finished with vitrified clay tile covered with plaster. There is a 4-5 inch air gap that the steel frame creates (as well as the air inside the clay tile), so conceivably I can blow in a foam material to insulate but I have read so much about the importance of having an air gap to alleviate moisture concerns that I am afraid to insulate. Should I be worried about this? Could this increase spalling of the brick(the bricks are used)?

We have a brick home built in the mid 50's. We recently gutted one of the bedrooms, there is no isulation, there is the furring strips talked about. We are installing a styrofoam insulation. Do we have to use a moisture barrier also? We have baseboard radiant heat, The registers also show signs of rust, and smell damp, We believe this is because there is no moisture barriers in the walls. Any advice would be helpful....

Hello Tim,

I have a house built in the 1910's. The exterior walls are 3 bricks thick with wood lathe and plaster interior walls. The plaster is in extreme disrepair and I'm thinking of having a demo company come in and remove all the plaster and lathe. I would then reframe the interior walls and put up drywall but I'm not sure of the best way to insulate behind the drywall and to what degree do I need to be concerned with a moisture barrier. Your opinion is appreciated. Thanks,
John
Chicago, Illinois

Hi Tim -

I recently bought a slow pour 600 Board kit of Tiger Foam. I will be insulating my second floor apartment which tends to be drafty. The walls are plaster with wood lathing. I also plan on pouring foam into the the counter weight voids in the old window sashes.

Do you have any advice for me before I proceed?

I notice one of your sponsors is hytech.com insulating paint. I am trying this right now on the ceiling of a 1970 wood house. This house has no attic, so short of rebuilding the roof there is no way to add conductive insulation. Their paint claims to reflect heat back into the room. Have you tried this paint?

The problem with this is not just your heating bills, but water condensing on the outside walls and causing mold to grow - so I think you need to fix this problem. I would cover the outside of the house with 2”foam board. And wood strips 2’ on center. Then reside. It is cheaper to work from the outside plus it will not upset your living situation, and you will end up with a well insulated house that has a large thermo mass on the inside of the insulation, which helps control temperature. You will need to check you have adequate eves (3” or more) to do this of course.

hi there tim,

i have a brick home built in 1962. i am way up in canada .... about 40 miles north of toronto. the home has a nice walk out basement, so we like spending time down there, but it does get a might chilly down there in the winter. the windows and doors are good.

the exterior walls have 2 X 2 strapping that are attached to cinder blocks. there is about one and half inches of fibreglass insulation between the cinder blocks and the interior wall. so the R value is low. i have read the other posts, but i was simply wondering if it would make sense to "build the wall out." i would do this by ripping out the existing wall and straps and adding 2X4 studs. before adding the studs i would add tar paper (for moisture protection), then add the studs, then add the fibreglass bats, then the plastic wrap and then even add styrofoam insulation and seal it with tape. finally, add the drywall.

i would do this myself so the labour is free. by building out the wall with the extra 2 inches of stud and the styrofoam, we would lose 4 inches, BUT the rooms are big and roomy downstairs anyways...so floor space is not a major issue.

any thoughts on this building out the wall scheme?

also, would it be better to build out the wall with the studs and rather than going fibreglass and styrofoam, hire someone to spray in the foam?

cheers

marty

Henry,

Hi.

I have a cinder block home,including interior wall. I have a tenant that leaves her house at 54 to 58 degrees in the winter time. She will use portable heat at times. I'm now having problems with moisture bubbles, cracked plaster, and the drywall tape is coming loose. We took the textured plaster off the wall in one area and now are down to the block. I've been told by a contractor that the cinder block is being stressed by the extreme temperature changes caused by the range of hot and cold. Is this possible?

Thank you.

B