Adding Foam Insulation To Interior Walls

Interior basement wall insulation has the following advantages.

Adding foam insulation to interior walls.

It is much less expensive to install than exterior insulation for existing buildings. Conserve room area relative to installing insulation on the interior. Polyicynene and polyurethane are about 1 50 per square foot including labor if the wall is open and 2 25 per square foot for existing walls. If there s nothing in the walls read slow rise below.

In installing the rigid foam insulation on an interior wall inspect the walls beforehand. Installers can also spray a thin layer of foam to seal leaks then fill in with less expensive insulation. First the foam is sprayed into the wall in a procedure that very closely resembles the process of installing loose fill insulation. Insulating interior walls isn.

Never insulate these cavities or plug their drain holes. This process creates holes in your walls that need to be filled patched and painted. Here s how to do this. Foam insulation is probably the best retrofit choice in terms of avoiding wall damage.

In these cases both sides of the wall are up and you want to get an expanding foam inside without tearing down 1 side or the other. The advantages of insulating interior walls. Most communities have building codes that require a minimum amount of insulation in a house s exterior walls and ceiling. Foam board insulation is easy to cut with a circular saw with a masonry blade or scored with a utility knife and snapped like you would drywall.

This can be a serious advantage as it makes the foam seek out and eliminate any cracks and gaps in your walls that can cause air leaks. If you think the problem you encountered as you inspect the interior walls is major then seek help from a professional. In an existing home adding insulation to the exterior of the basement walls is impractical. To attach the insulation you can use screws with large washers a special adhesive made for adhering foam board insulation or for smaller pieces you can seal them in with caulk or spray foam.

Many solid walls including double brick walls see figure 7 1 have a small cavity generally less than 25 mm 1 in which is a drainage plane that collects and drains water out of the wall. Injection foam expands to work into difficult areas that blown in insulation may ignore. Next the foam expands in size causing it to fill any empty space. You want spray foam insulation in these walls but normally spray foam is sprayed as an expanding seal.

Cementitious foam costs about 1 40 to 2 per square foot.