Wall Insulation in 1960's house?

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by springazure

This region suffers from power losses during winter due to ice storms.

when your posting info doesn't say where "this region" might be...
but wherever it is... if it is prone to the sort of cold that might also make ice storms... it makes sense to have backups.

Wood stoves are a good example of that...
as are generators to produce the 20amps needed to run a FHA gas furnace.

point being that the other 160-180 days that you want the house warm should determine the type of furnace not; the 5 or even 20 days when the power might be out.

hth

[springazure]

Originally Posted by MrRational

when your posting info doesn't say where "this region" might be...
but wherever it is... if it is prone to the sort of cold that might also make ice storms... it makes sense to have backups.

Wood stoves are a good example of that...
as are generators to produce the 20amps needed to run a FHA gas furnace.

point being that the other 160-180 days that you want the house warm should determine the type of furnace not; the 5 or even 20 days when the power might be out.

hth

My eventual goal down the road is that the Natural Gas will be my "back up" source ONLY when needed.

The Solar Hot Air Collectors and Sardine Wood burner will easily carry me through the shoulder months of Autumn and Spring. I will only need the Natural Gas during the more brutal times.

It's located right at the IL/IA/MO corner. I can't get the house totally off-grid, but I'm going to get it as close as possible. (Hence... insulation is an important factor)

OH.... and just in case anybody is wondering, I'm currently in Wisconsin so the winters down there will be a piece of cake compared to what I'm used to. My oldest son moved down there 2 yrs ago due to job transfer. I have a pretty decent understanding of their climate/weather.

[Bigg Mann]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

You can have insulation blown into the walls. It is not insanlely costly (for our house the quote was $5000 and our house is pretty good sized.). They have to cut 2 holes between each set of studs. They can do that from the inside or outside. They plug the holes and you then refinish. If you live in a place that gets "ice cold" it will be well worth the cost)

You can also do it yourself. You can rent the insulation blower machine and get baled insulation at Home Depot. The machine weighs a ton and is had to move. When I did it, I had the Home depot people load the machine into my pick up and then just drove it alongside the house where I needed it. I never toook it out of the truck (I couldn't). It came with a really long hose. It took me 2 days to do one wall about 40 feet long. I didnto cut out plugs, I just pried up a piece of siding for access. This did not allow me to get the insulation as packed as it should be.

I also have an old 12x60 trailer and I had insulation blown in the ceiling and floor. They cut 3inch holes in ceiling and underneath trailer and blew in loose insulation and capped holes. The difference is noticeable.