Home insulation provides an often unseen barrier against the elements. A well-insulated home makes your living space comfortable and lowers your energy bills. As standards of home construction change and building products improve, newer homes may offer more efficient insulation products compared to older properties. Nevertheless, if you own an older home, you have options for increasing overall energy efficiency, including adding insulation.
If the air inside feels too hot or too cold and your energy bills seem high, consider insulating behind your drywall. While this project might have involved ripping off and replacing wallboards in the past, current installation techniques allow you to avoid going to that extreme to insulate walls in your home.
How Much Insulation Do You Need?
When you have the right amount of insulation behind your walls, you usually never think about it. However, you’ll likely notice a poorly insulated wall if you observe drafty, cold air and higher energy bills. To determine how much insulation you need, look at the recommended guidance for residential homes in your geographic area. Energy Star recommends that all exterior walls of a home have some insulation.
R-Value
Due to varying regions and climates, different homes require different types of insulation. Energy Star measures insulation types by R-value, the ability of the product to resist heat. Your home’s geographic location and the room you’re looking to apply insulation in will determine the ideal R-value for your insulation. Homes in colder climates, like Buffalo, New York, require insulation with a higher R-value than warmer areas like Miami, Florida.
Energy Assessment and Insulation Check
As building codes change over the years and homeowners become increasingly energy-conscious, spending money to add insulation in existing homes may have more appeal, especially if long-term energy savings result. If you feel too cold or warm inside your home or your energy bills run above average, consider performing an energy assessment. A thorough review of your home’s condition may uncover opportunities to save money and moderate the interior temperature. You can hire a professional to complete this service or perform some assessment steps on your own. Also, utility companies or nonprofit organizations such as Mass Saves may offer no-cost energy audit and assessment services.
To complete an energy assessment, you or a professional should check visible areas, such as your basement or attic insulation. If you’d also like to find out what’s behind the walls, it’s best to use a professional energy assessor or an insulation contractor. Before the energy assessor arrives, take note of areas in your home that feel drafty to you. The energy assessor can use infrared cameras and other equipment to determine the type of insulation, if any, present behind drywall. They can also tell you if your current insulation provides adequate protection for your home or if they recommend adding more.
What Type of Insulation Can You Install Behind Drywall?
Once you’ve decided to add insulation to your home, you still have to decide what type of insulation process you prefer. You can select between a loose fill insulation or a spray foam insulation.
Loose fill insulation
Loose fill insulation is the more affordable option and consists of a fluffy pink substance made of recycled fiberglass, mineral wool, or cellulose. The material fills space in an existing area to provide extra warmth. If you plan to utilize this type of insulation, you should work with an experienced installer who has specialized equipment to blow the insulation into place. The professional will help to achieve the recommended density of the insulation product in the safest manner.
Spray foam insulation
Spray foam products work by blowing liquid foam into small access holes in walls. This liquid will expand and harden into a dry foam insulation that fills empty spaces and creates the necessary barrier behind drywall. Some open-cell spray foams have more air, giving them a spongier texture compared to other, closed-cell varieties. A professional installer can recommend which type of foam insulation will work best for your home. Typically, spray foam insulation costs more than loose fill. However, spray foam insulation is less invasive as installers can remove a small portion of the wall and spray the insulation throughout the entire area.
Which insulation should you choose?
It’s a good idea to ask your installer for their recommendation on the type of insulation that works best for your home. However, you may prefer loose fill insulation if you want to dim sounds that can pass through walls. Spray foam, while more costly, offers a higher R-value and forms an air barrier for increased protection against weather elements.
How to Add Insulation Behind Drywall
Insulating exterior walls will help to block hot and cold air before it reaches your living space. To insulate your exterior walls, you’ll need to work with a professional to determine the most inconspicuous place to blow in your insulation. You may choose to do this from either side of the wall, depending on which method provides the easiest access.
If your house has siding, you might want to work from the outside and spray insulation into the cavity between the drywall and the exterior panels of your home. Your installer will remove a small area of siding and drill access holes to blow in the insulation. For walls covered by masonry materials such as brick or cement, work with an experienced installer that can recommend the best procedures for drilling holes and blowing in insulation.
If working through the exterior doesn’t make sense in your situation, you can also drill small holes directly through the drywall inside the home. The installer will blow in the insulation, then repair the drywall. Timing this project with an interior remodel or repainting job may help you to gain the benefit of insulation without added disruption.
How Much Does Insulation Cost?
Before you embark on adding insulation, you’ll need to decide if the benefit outweighs the time and the cost of this home improvement. Homeowners should expect to spend between $1,044 and $2,509 for this type of project, according to Angi. Prices can vary based on the type of insulation you choose, the amount of drywall repair needed on the backend, and the cost of a professional installer.
You can use the Department of Energy’s Home Energy Saver Calculator to price out an insulation project and determine how much you could save in energy costs as a result. You may also use the results of an energy assessment or the upgrades recommended by the Energy Saver Calculator to save on home energy costs with less expensive or less intrusive options.
Conclusion
Insulated drywall can increase your comfortability and maximize your savings. When you notice a draft or if you often feel cold in your home, you likely need to add or reevaluate your current insulation. Working with a professional can help determine what type of insulation you need and how to complete an attic insulation or other room in your home. Adding insulation typically costs a few thousand dollars, but can decrease the amount you spend on your monthly energy bill.
