Insulating from the outside

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Just think of it :rolleyes:like, you're working by your self with 50 guys sitting on the lawn watching you while drinking beer.
 
Keep us posted and plan on taking a bunch of pictures and keeping us updated.

A nice video/picture thread would be great when you get it started.
 
Hi everybody, I am wondering what,how I should go about this. I will be tearing off the old siding,and the boards under it and replacing it, I want to insulate the walls while I have everything off. What type of insulation should I use? What about vapor barrier?

After removing the diagonal sheathing boards and cavity insulation, canned foam/caulk any plumbing/wiring holes to prevent insulation R-value loss due to air infiltration/exfiltration. Caulk the drywall/studs/plates joints or if P&L, forget this step. Install asphalt paper-faced batts or poly, do not wrap the wood studs to concentrate any moisture condensation there. Stick the edges of the poly in the caulking, not to the wood studs. A vapor barrier/retarder is required for your location (zone 6 or 7; http://publicecodes.cyberregs.com/icod/irc/2009/icod_irc_2009_11_par002.htm) as that BSC link brought out; depends on the siding/sheathing perm rating;

"Foil-faced isocyanurate 1 inch thick (R 6) installed over a 2x6 frame wall (R 19) meets requirement #9 in Minneapolis. Therefore, a kraft-faced batt (Class II vapor retarder) is required on the interior of this assembly.

In Chicago where plywood or OSB exterior sheathing is used, an unfaced fiberglass batt can be installed within the wall cavity and gypsum board painted with latex paint (Class III vapor retarder) is required on the interior of this assembly. If this assembly is moved to Minneapolis, a Class II vapor retarder is required on the interior (a kraft paper faced fiberglass batt)." From last page; http://www.buildingscience.com/docu...tanding-vapor-barriers/?topic=/doctypes/diges

Caulk under the structural sheathing, on the studs for complete air barrier, tape over the joints. What type of siding? Any foamboard?

Gary
 
Sorry Gary I just saw your post. We are going with vinyl siding(cost) I was not going to put the foam insulation on the outside.thanks for the links.
 
Well got started,the insulated part is the addition.boards were not to bad they were 3/4 in and the new is7/16 so I had to tear it off. It appears that there is some of that cellulose insulation in spots and none in others. Have found some patch work.What a mess!

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Good progress.

Pull the insulation, seal all the gaps cracks, seal the ribbon boards, electrical outlets, etc.
 
Not as far as I was hoping get,tearing off was a pain and took a lot longer than expected. Did get as far as insulating and four pieces of sheathing u before it started to rain. Have to add some 2x4s to supplement some half rotten ones. Some spots were worse than I thought and some not as bad. Will add more pics this afternoon.
 
Well only got two more pieces up today, very sore and burnt from yesterday,had to make a material run also. Then ran into some interesting stuff,see pic.

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When you come across rot, you should dig, scatch, cut away as much as possible and then paint the area with a preservitve that contain copper. It's much like the treatment in treated lumber and treat the lumber that is going next to the affected area. We did the outside of a church like this and in some places we cut the 2x6 studs back to 2x2s to get rid of the rot We did the whole church like that one stud at a time with an engineer watching us . We nailed up some poly above and let it drap over a makeshift fram about 4ft away, keeps the rain out and still gives working room.
 
Good looking job so far. The diagonal sheathing looks to be pretty sound except where the ends were near a corner or edge like at the spot where the addition was added. I have found the same thing in my old wood sided homes. It seems unless the clapboards have completely failed they and the little airspace behind them do a good job of keeping the diagonal sheathing dry and solid.

That was what I was trying to point out you may find in my earlier post. (#9) That and the bigness of the job you are undertaking.

The house I’m renovating right now is about the same vintage as yours and built very similar with just about the same siding conditions. I was lucky enough (I think) that the siding work was done prior to my getting the place but we had to open the outside at quite a few places as we are adding and removing windows and doors so I’m getting to see the results of going over some of this old stuff rather than replacing it.

I also have been lucky to get some help from an old timer who’s a family member that was in construction all his life. He’s 81 and still going strong. Over the last 3 months he has change my perspective about reusing and retaining materials that are still sound. But he is still very open about applying the new modern materials when needed. He’s convinced me the way they did the vinyl siding was the way to go in my case.

Neal brought up a great point about treating any bad areas before replacing what is gone and also rigging some tarps to work under. I might add when you get higher on the house you might want to invest in a couple sections of scaffolding. Could save a lot of trips up and down moving ladders.

The way you are doing it is the best sure fired way to see and inspect everything. You have the chance to seal it good and insulate best. Just keep working an area at a time and you will have it done before you know it.

Also thanks for sharing the photos and doing a log of your progress so far. I’m sure there are lots reading and watching wanting to do the same thing.
 
Thanks for the tips,today I ran into an even bigger problem,hopefully one of you guys know what yo do to fix this.This is a timber on the foundation to which the walls are attached.

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Ya that's what I was talking about.
How big is this timber and how deep is the rot or how much is left.
Is there anything between timber and concrete, tar paper, roofing material, anything?
Condition of wood higher under the window?
Condition of the end of the floor joists, and are they sitting on concrete or are they only nailed in place?
The floor does not extend over this timber, the stud sits right on the timber, yes?
Poke around with a screwdriver, start with a really solid peice of old wood and you will be able to judge how soft this stuff is?
 
All I can see is the timber,then the inside wall, no floor joists are visible. The timber looks to be about 8 1/2 to 9 inches tall can't tell how wide as the wall sits on it. The 2x4s are half rotten those I don't have a problem figuring out how to replace. Some of the wall boards feel wet but I don't think it is a problem, now that the leaks will be stopped. The timber is at least half gone if not more.
 
The timbers are right on top of the concrete nothing between them. I stopped poking and scraping after it got half way but it will go more.
 
You can't see the joists from under the house?
Drill a 1 1/2" hole thru the center of that timber, stay away from the nails under the stud, they likely are nailed into the joists.
Then with a saws-all cut a big enough hole you can stick you hand inside and feel around.


If I was at your house I would look at everything I could think of to develope a plan, so try to answer all the dumb question. You are the eyes for the rest of us.
 
This is a picture of the floor joists(and cob webs) from the basement,when I cut the hole what am I looking for? Is it possible to cut out a section of that and replace it?
 
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