How to Insulate Finished Walls

Usually new construction homes have insulation contained in the wall cavities. Old homes walls which were built before the 1970s or 1980s often will not be insulated, unless a retrofit project has already solved the problem of how to insulate finished walls. If a house has uninsulated closed walls in a harsh climate it will result in discomfort and high energy costs. The lack of house wall insulation means an overworked cooling or heating system that diligently blows cold or hot air, yet the property envelope is not holding up its end of the deal. 

Insulating older homes exterior walls was not a priority. Energy costs were less than they are these days, and it wasn’t that important saving energy. In some properties, insulating the basement and attic was more than enough, even with insulation that was adequate at best. Once the drywall was installed, especially in the basement area, there wasn’t much reason to improve or upgrade the insulation.

These days, homeowners want to reduce energy costs and reduce their air-conditioning and heating bills. So in a few words, better insulation is the better answer for a space like the basement. But for some the issue is how to insulate finished walls without tearing it apart. If you let experts like EcoStar Insulation handle the job, you will get to know the method “drill-and-fill”.

Drill And Fill Method

Drill-and-Fill is an innovative and improved extending insulation method for effectively insulating finished walls. It is the “perfect” solution for interior and exterior walls that have been finished. If you retrofit these walls with new insulation using spray foam insulation, the benefits are evident, the energy efficiency is much improved, the home is much better insulated, and seasonal cooling and heating bills are dramatically lowered.

With this method, our professional installers will drill holes into existing drywall, and make sure to target cavities which are found behind the drywall. Then, loose fill cellulose insulation is blown into the drilled holes, whereby the wall cavities are filled with insulation material. When the wall cavities are full of insulation material, the frilled holes are patched and additional drywall finishing can be preceded.

In some homes where exterior walls fell cold, this insulation method if professionally installed, the long-term benefits are well worth the investment. Some of the benefits of spray foam insulation are: utility bills will be reduced, air conditioning and heating will operate in a more efficient way, and home comfort will be noticeable immediately.

How to Insulate Existing Finished Walls?

As we mentioned before, insulating house exterior walls is one of the primary defences against energy and heat loss. You can potentially save a great deal of energy by insulating if your property was built before insulating walls became standard.

So you are wondering how you extend insulation material into existing walls without opening them up?

Yes, you can insulate existing exterior walls either they are from outside or inside of the house. When doing the process from outside, the job involves removing some siding panels so that large holes can be bored through seething at the top of wall stud cavities.

Then professional installers will use special equipment to blow fiberglass fibers or cellulose insulation through the holes into the cavities. Blowing the insulation material into the walls from inside the house basically involves identical working procedures but instead of removing siding, holes are cut through the drywall with a large hole saw. This procedure is a mess and requires extensive patching and painting of drywall.

If your property’s attic is already fully insulated, adding insulation to the walls may be the single best solution to reduce cooling and heating costs. 

There are 6 steps that might simplify the idea of insulating existing finished walls:

Step 1: Use a claw hammer and a pry bar to remove all of the old paneling on your mobile home wall. Try to remove screws that secure sheetrock by using a cordless drill. Take all of the old wall boards off the wall.

Step 2: By using a hammer try to remove or tap in any nails that are sticking up from the studs. Try not to remove the nails which are there to hold the studs in place, tap them in. By using a drill or screw gun with the proper screw bit to remove or counter sink any screw that may be present.

Step 3: Try to use R11 insulation value over the existing insulation in every wall that you removed the panel from. We recommend not to remove the old insulation, as it might be very thin and may have electrical wires behind or in front of insulation material. The reason why to use R11 is that it is smaller and designed for mobile home walls. 

Step 4: By using duct tape try to tape each and every seam where the pieces of insulation meet. Do this if you want to help prevent heat from escaping and drafts from entering your property when it is cold outside.

Step 5: Try to measure, mark and cut sheetrock for each wall you have just insulated.

Step 6: By using a drill and 2-inch sheetrock screws try to attach the new sheetrock to the walls by inserting the screws vertically every 4-inches along each stud.

Step 7: Use sheetrock tape to cover all seams between pieces of sheetrock and then mud those seams. Allow the mud to dry for approximately 12 hours then sand and finish the wall using paint or wallpaper as an alternative.

How much is the cost to foam insulate finished existing walls?

Usually, when someone has their existing walls insulated, they do all of the exterior walls to seal up the home’s envelope. The cost of foam insulating all four of the exterior existing walls will range anywhere between $4,000 to $8,200, depending on a variety of factors. The size of the area that will be insulated with foam insulation is the largest contributing factor to the cost of the insulation process.

Why Ecostar?

EcoStar’s insulation team strives to provide the best quality products and the highest standard of expertise. Our professionalism and experience goal is that you never have to worry about anything less than thorough and complete workmanship. Our professionals will guide you from the consultation to the execution stage. Contact us for your free estimate.