Storage Room Insulation

Hello!

First of all, I want to apologize for my lack of technical term knowledge.

My wife and I recently purchased a home in South East Michigan. She fell in love with a small storage room and wants to convert it into her office.

The room is very cold and currently has a radiator that does not work. The house was built in 1895 and we are not sure when the last work was done to this room.

I was thinking of ripping all of the plaster out so I could run new electrical and insulate the walls. However, I am worried of what I could find behind the walls (asbestos?). Also, would the amount of insulation that we would be able to add be sufficient?

Should I even bother with doing that or just paint and make it as nice as possible with what we have?

Any advise or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Pictures of room:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz0YoMY0edVhNG50bFdkd1NicGlCWXNuQmhzbUhydlBNeXpJ

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz0YoMY0edVhS1FlQng2TGRuWW9jVUJlRDhJR3VYVTFXZDE0

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz0YoMY0edVhTG01RlZQem9kVk4tVEs0ZWZ4WXpSdFJ4dGNn

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz0YoMY0edVhRHV6cGpzaWdsV0pIdGNib3JSOG9HTlR2WEEw

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz0YoMY0edVhU24xRWlvalc1MTE3Sl9FNE50T1ZiQWNYQmdB

I almost had that room figured out until I got to the brick wall.
Perhaps you could take some pictures from the outside and point us to where this is under the roof.

nealtw said:

I almost had that room figured out until I got to the brick wall.
Perhaps you could take some pictures from the outside and point us to where this is under the roof.

Click to expand...

Sorry about that. It's hard to explain the room layout and composition too. The brick is seen from a small crawlspace on one side of the room.

I will try to take better pictures tonight. And some outside pictures as well.

druid84 said:

Sorry about that. It's hard to explain the room layout and composition too. The brick is seen from a small crawlspace on one side of the room.

I will try to take better pictures tonight. And some outside pictures as well.

Click to expand...

Just some background information.
picture 1
Hard to imagine what the roof line looks like but if that is a skylight, it looks like the framing is only about 6" deep. In new construction it would be built out of 2x10 to allow 9" of insulation and above that it would be strapped with 2x4 to allow air flow between the insulation and roof sheeting.
picture 2
If you suspect knob and tube wiring, re wiring is almost a must.
picture 3
If you can imagine the framing around the dormer, getting air flow next to the roof sheeting will be close to impossible.
picture 4
Appears to be valley framing where the roof changes direction.
Looks like water getting in.
Heat from the top of the wall below has no where to go so will melt the snow and can cause ice dams where water will back up under the shingles.
picture 5
Even without heat in the attic and not enough insulation in the ceiling or floor below that area will be well above freezing so we would like to see box vents to allow heat to escape.

These pictures show box vents near the top of the roof and air chutes that allow air flow from the soffet behind the insulation.

Sorry the pictures aren't that clear I suppose. It's a small window and not a skylight. There are two small windows in the room.

Here are some pictures from the outside. It's the small window above the entrance to the kitchen.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz0YoMY0edVhTDJZVllSSUJkd28

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz0YoMY0edVhZ3JLQ0JBTE03a3c

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz0YoMY0edVhRFR6NUlBUEgzRTg

And a short video of the room (sorry about the mess).
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz0YoMY0edVhQ3daQ3JOSzBncEU

Who decided to turn off the heat in that room? Just adding heat could cause ice dams and leaks.
I think I would consider pulling the plaster, do the wiring add 2 1/2 inches to the thickness of the framing and insulate & vapour bearier and drywall (2 x 3 on edge)

I doubt you will find any asbestos behind the walls or ceiling most likely lath and horse hair plaster based on the age or if it was renovated years ago some old time drywall product. Is the rest of the house still hot water heated? If it is and the piping is still in place I might think about reusing the old radiator. Such a small room and on the top floor there could be a million reasons it was taken out of service though. If she won’t be using the room all the time the convivence of even electric heat might be a lot easier. You need air circulation below the roofing and I don’t see ridge vents but there are those gable vents under the peaks and inside your room the ceiling has a flat area. The air movement is from under the eaves up the rafters and across that flat area and out the vents. I doubt there is any insulation in the rafters at all.

I had some similar roofs in our 1880’s house and cold rooms off the second floor where the main house roof and insulation didn’t cover.

What I did was leave what was in place and working alone and cover the whole inside of the room in 2” thick foam board and then new drywall. I screwed the foam board up with long screws into the lath and framing with big washer head screws and then I sealed all the cracks with can spray foam. And then covered the whole room with a new layer of drywall. You could even do your new electrical in that 2” space. It worked out to be quite warm and without the mess of demolition of the old plaster.

Just an idea.

Thank you both for the replies.

According to the previous owner of the house, that radiator never worked for them. My guess is it was disconnected when they replaced the boiler because the pipes still run all the way to the basement.

I was thinking an electric heater will suffice for such a small room during the winter.

I didn't consider covering everything with the foam board and drywall because the ceiling is pretty low already. But I suppose reframing would still lower it about the same length.

This is our first house and my first DIY project. I think I may be inclined to cover everything with the foam and drywall.

YW
You could do some of each also if head room is an issue. There is quite a bit of room in that triangle above so if you took the ceiling down above you could fit foam in between the framing and then cover with drywall.

Everyone has to start with a first project this would be a great little room to get your feet wet with quite a few skills you will learn.

That will be a tough room to learn drywall on.:hide:

The tricky part of drywalling over foam is getting the screws to seat into something solid. When I have done it I have had best luck using wood strips to hold the foam up tight and then they provide a solid bite for the drywall screws.

I’m not sure what is the best method people use if they do this.