Doggone it - I lost the text of my in-progress posting. Sorry if it duplicates....
Scenario: I now have completely open to the studs and sheathing exterior walls on South side of house - both levels - due to insurance company's delay on approving demo/removal of cabinetry and walls which had been left for days in 3" of standing sewage overflow. YES - Under the terms of my HO policy, this is a COVERED LOSS. After about 18 months, we had a major Mold Farm behind the walls. I had pulled the cabinets and had the walls demo'd and rebuilt at my own expense, but it was too little, too late. Mold had set in, and now it has taken over, gone throughout the HVAC air handling system...... and I am living without flooring, wall finishes, cabinetry, kitchen and bath plumbing, cooking facilities or , very importantly - INSULATION, which has to go in before we can put in new walls.
Sprayed - on foam (soy, corn, icynene or polyurethane) all seem to be equally effective at preventing mold regrowth, according to their literature. What I am wondering is whether anybody here has any personal or professional experience with this issue? I know I can add effective R-value by using foam, and amp it up even further if I add fiberglass batts on top. I also can stop heat transfer through the wood studs by attaching foam strips on the interior side, rather than furring them with wood. (The framing needs another 5/8 of furring added because the demo'd walls were 3-layer plaster and we are replacing with drywall - so we need to make the walls meet up with the window and door framing.)
So: do you think I am on the right track here?
And what about the soundproofing qualities of Foam? Anybody have any ideas? I have a teenager with a drumset, loud amps and a - God help me
- Band! I want to do something to dampen the sound, as long as I have to put back insulation between the ceiling (or floor, depending) joists. Suggestions?
I'd also like to add insulation to the lower level, which has the lower
3' of walls below grade - just a skimcoated & painted poured concrete foundation, with a jog out at the sill and plaster walls above the sill plate. There is NO lower insulation and those walls get very cold. The upper walls get pretty chilly, too. It was suggested that I do one of 2 things:
- Frame in the whole perimeter and foam it. That would be pretty expensive, and require a lot of framing labor and lumber - especially if I want to make the wall vertically flat, rather than to keep the jog and the foundation sill.
- Nail/glue rigid foam board to the concrete walls and foam only the upper walls. I'd have the option of using strips of 2' foam board to act as framing instead of wood 2x4 studs, on the upper walls, because they would only be used as boxes to hold in the foam. They'd need to use longer drywall screws than usual to attach the drywall covering to the existing wood studs behind the existing drywall, over which the foam would be applied. Hard to describe - is it possible to envision? It would be a sort of "sandwich" of (new drywall-new foam) over (old drywall-visqueen-fiberglass batt)sheathing & siding. I really love the idea that foam would completely seal all the little air gaps and eliminate the current heat transfer through the existing wood studs. My house has become awfully drafty downstairs due to settlement, various half-assed repairs that didn't get quite sealed, etc. Lots of little places where daylight shows.
Whadda ya think?
Liz