I am living in an rowhouse with exterior walls built of 2×4's. When it gets really cold in the winter – I can feel the cold coming through the wall of my bedroom when I put my hand on it. The wall is about 12' wide by 8' tall with 2 windows. Is there something I can do to better insulate? The only thing I can think of is to remove the drywall and furr out the wall and re-insulate. Are there any less destructive and DIY options?
Easy/Cheap fix to insulating 2×4 exterior wall in Maryland
insulation
Related Solutions
There is a rigid polyisocyanurate foam core insulation, often sold under the brand name Super Tuff from Dow that has a higher R value than XPS. It is R-13 in 2 inch panels and is higher if you trap a small air barrier behind it (around R-15).
The foam has a foil vapor barrier on the back.
You could
- mount this on the existing furring foil side out, using glue and screws
- seal the edges with foil tape
- reinstall paneling with glue and screws throught the foam, into the existing furring.
HOWEVER: The paneling could hold itself up when mounted this way, and you could mount lighweight things, such as pictures. The walls would NOT be suitable for mounting shelves, fixtures, heavy mirrors, etc. You would need to take care and inform any subsequent owner that the walls were not intended for bearing any signifciant weight!
The easiest way to insulate concrete block is to glue foam insulation board directly to the block. These boards come in 4 ft X 8 ft sheets and different R values. The other method is to build a wood or steel stud wall along the block to hold blanket style insulation along with electrical wiring etc. This method is a lot more work, but gives you a base to install sheetrock later on.
Depending on whether or not you want the attic area insulated or not, blanket or blown in insulation can be installed into the ceiling. ( this assumes you have a sheathed ceiling). Otherwise, you can install blanket insulation between the rafters. Depending on budget, sprayed in foam insulation is fantastic. You may also want to look at some venting to help exhaust hot air during the summer months. I may add a few comments later, but here's a start.
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Best Answer
You can have blown-in insulation added after the fact. They will drill small, maybe 1-1/2" holes in the stucco, one above and one below the fire blocks in each section between the studs and blow in the chopped fiberglass material. then they patch the stucco and if you have some of the original leftover paint, they will repaint it. If not they try to match it, but the success of that varies.
Most HOAs will allow this by the way, so long as the contractor is licensed and in some cases pre-approved by the HOA.
This is what it looks like when they are done, pre-painting.