I've got a 35 year old 2 story home. Is there a way to add insulation to the outside walls? They are always cold in the winter.
Answer:
The best way I guess, is to do it from the outside: If you have brick siding, it's quite impractical to remove it and while I'm not a believer in installing siding over siding, I'd take advantage of that one-inch gap between your brick and the actual structure for air and of course, condensate movement. My system is to strap the whole building vertically with 2X2 spruce, 24" O.C. and as each strap is attached a sheet of 1.25" rigid foam insulation is installed. Rigid foam thicker than that becomes its own vapour barrier and because it is not on the heated side, you certainly don’t want that. This way you have a very tight job and building out around windows and doors with the same material means that a cladding of aluminum bent for the purpose will ensure a complete job. Now you can install whatever siding you want.
