Adding Foam Insulation To Interior Walls

The only option is to add insulation to the exterior or to the interior.

Adding foam insulation to interior walls.

Foam insulation is probably the best retrofit choice in terms of avoiding wall damage. Conserve room area relative to installing insulation on the interior. 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. Here s how to do this.

Never insulate these cavities or plug their drain holes. In installing the rigid foam insulation on an interior wall inspect the walls beforehand. 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. It is much less expensive to install than exterior insulation for existing buildings.

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. Cementitious foam costs about 1 40 to 2 per square foot. Almost any insulation type can. Check for any moisture problem on the interior walls and apply a waterproof paint on the affected area to resolve this.

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. Next the foam expands in size causing it to fill any empty space. 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. Installers can also spray a thin layer of foam to seal leaks then fill in with less expensive insulation.

Interior basement wall insulation has the following advantages. This process creates holes in your walls that need to be filled patched and painted. Most communities have building codes that require a minimum amount of insulation in a house s exterior walls and ceiling. In an existing home adding insulation to the exterior of the basement walls is impractical.

Injection foam expands to work into difficult areas that blown in insulation may ignore. You want spray foam insulation in these walls but normally spray foam is sprayed as an expanding seal. The advantages of insulating interior walls. If there s nothing in the walls read slow rise below.

Insulating interior walls isn.