How To Insulate Walls Without Removing The Drywall
Buying a home that needs some updating is not a bad idea. You can usually find a cheaper version of the original home if it needs a lot of updating. Keep in mind, not all is lost when it comes to purchasing a remodel. In some cases, you can save a lot of the original home and just build or update around it. When houses are older or have leaks, the original insulation becomes bad. Replacing insulation is necessary for keeping your home energy efficient and clear from other dangers. The good thing is that you don’t always need to remove the drywall just to install new insulation. Wondering how to insulate walls without removing drywall? Cut holes in the exterior or interior walls before blowing or spraying in materials.
Let’s take a look below at some more details regarding insulating without removing the drywall.
How Does Wall Insulation Help?
Insulating your walls and the attic space is necessary to maintain proper energy efficiency in a home. In many cases, experts believe that a homeowner saves as much as 15% on their energy bill due to proper insulation and sealing. Older homes were not insulated back in the early times, so it is necessary to do your research based on the type of house you are purchasing or living in. Insulation can be added to any home to establish a newer version of every efficiency, without destroying the current structures.
How To Insulate And What To Use?
Depending on the location that is needing insulation will determine what type of insulation you will be using. Let’s take a look at what you will use for various locations that need new insulation.
- Interior or Exterior walls – You will drill holes between the studs at the top of the wall. Spray-in insulation is then used to fill the cavities of the walls.
- Basement walls – You will use foam board, blown-in, or spray foam insulation to insulate your basement. The type of insulation used is determined by the existing wall space.
- Attic space – In many cases, you will use loose-fill insulation materials. This comes in fiberglass batts, cellulose insulation, or rock wool material. Additionally, you might see batt or rolls used in the attic space.
How Blown-In Insulation Is Installed Behind Drywall?
Blowing in insulation behind the drywall is a fairly easy process for the right contractor. You will want to ensure that you hire a professional contractor who has experience with blowing insulation behind the drywall. You can blow in insulation from the interior or exterior of the home. Let’s take a look below at the process.
- Drill holes – Drill holes the size of the spray kit nozzle that you are using. Make sure to use your measuring tape and a camera to determine the center of each internal wall pocket. Drilling holes are evenly spaced and the same height on the walls.
- Blow In the insulation – If you are doing this project yourself, you will need to put the protective gear on. Insert the hose nozzle into the wall and pull the trigger. You will feel insulation blowing into the hole until you see it reach the height of your wall hole. Once the foam is pushing back into the nozzle, stop blowing. You will notice some uneven insulation, but that is normal. Consequently, use the thermal imaging camera to determine if the wall cavities are properly filled. Also, be sure not to over-fill the cavities. This could damage the studs and put added pressure on the drywall.
- Patch and Paint – Allow the new insulation foam time to settle. This may take up to 60 minutes. Then you can take new drywall cutouts and patch and spackle the drywall. Allow the spackle up to 24 hours to dry before sanding the holes and painting the wall.
Other Recommended Maintenance
Now that you know how to insulate walls without removing the drywall, let’s look at a few other maintenance areas. One of those is if the drywall is wet does it need replacing? Sometimes a leak in a pipe or a leak from a storm can cause drywall to be wet. However, that doesn’t mean that it has to be replaced. If you can dry it, it can be saved. Also, it will depend on also how much water is in the drywall and whether it will need replacing.
Another area is how much weight can drywall hold. If you find the studs in the wall and use the appropriate hardware, you can hang up to 100 pounds. This is important to know as often we have things we want to hang out with but wonder how heavy things can be.
Lastly, while we are thinking about maintenance in the home, another area is flooring. There are different types of flooring and one of them is floating floors. This is flooring that does not require glue, staples, or nails and is unsecured on floors. The panels or planks are secured to each other by an adhesive locking system.
When to Call a Professional?
Adding insulation to your walls without removing the drywall should be done by a professional. Most homeowners do not have the tools or the time to cut holes into their drywall and blow insulation into the crevices. Additionally, call on your local home inspection team. They can inspect your home for any damages that might have occurred before you install new insulation. Also, they can recommend a professional contractor who deals with installing insulation.
Conclusion
When you need to add insulation, you will want to hire a professional contractor who has experience with removing old insulation and installing new insulation. In some cases, asbestos could be involved if the home is much older. Also, you will want to utilize your local home inspection team, They can inspect the home and determine where you are needing insulation updating or upgrading. Reach out to Advantage Inspections to have your drywall inspected during a full home inspection here in West Central, Florida.
