Newer homes are built with proper insulation, but older homes may not have that crucial part of construction. Uninsulated walls raise your bill and your sweat every summer, but what does it take to insulate your walls once the drywall is closed?
Roll Insulation
Roll insulating ensures maximum coverage in wall stud cavities, is relatively low cost, and involves only simple tools so you can, in theory, install your insulation yourself. However, the process is messy, time-consuming, and involves many materials in the process of removing drywall, removing nails and screws, installing insulation, adding new drywall, finishing, and painting. While this method is simple, straightforward, and gives you the best assurance that the walls are filled and insulated it’s incredibly messy and easy to make mistakes if you don’t know what to expect during installation.
Injection Foam
Injection foam resists mold and mildew better than roll insulation, using its expansion to fill in every crevice of the space it’s set into, filling difficult spaces around wires, boxes, nails, and screws. The downside of injection foam is that, while more efficient than rolls, it still requires sections of the wall to be cut into, making holes that need to be filled, patched, and painted despite saving the majority of the drywall.
Blown-In Blanket Insulation (BIBS)
The happy medium between having no insulation and making holes in your walls. BIBS insulation does not settle, meaning that what you put inside your walls will stay the same without a shift in volume. The insulation makes a tight, dense, seamless blanket that is incredibly effective in stopping air infiltration, but unfortunately must be done by a professional and is not as widely available as other options.
Unsure what method is right for you? Call Lehigh Valley Insulation for any questions about what insulation options we offer, a specialized quote on your project, and how our experts can help make your installation project a no-sweat upgrade that will go a long way towards saving your air conditioner in summer and giving your heater a break in wintertime!
