Insulation questions

[Jack]

Live in cold midwest - am getting ready to drywall portions of my house that have been re-modeled. Wanted some recomendations on insulation r-values. Contractor did the construction, but I am doing insulation to save a few bucks..

Going with fiberglass... for ease of instalation.. etc.

Outside walls - currently has r-11 but most has come down.. so will be replacing the stuff that has been exposed by removal of drywall. What R value should I go with.

Ceiling between 1st and 2nd floor - Had insulation between joists, I have to assume it was for noise. Most has come down during contruction, will be replacing it. What R value?

Bedroom walls - build a second floor laundry, want to sound insulate as much as possible.. what r-value should I use in walls (regular 2x4 stud walls)

Have to get this done in the next 48 hours, so any specialized products are not an option, has to be off-the shelf from Lowes or HD (or simular)

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Go with R-asmuchasyoucan The deciding factor will be the wall cavity. You can only fit so much material in the space of a 2 x 4 or 2 x 6. Only other wayis to use a different mateial wiht a higher R value per inch.

If both spaces are heated equally, it will make no real difference.

R value has nothing to do with sound insulation. Thee are some materials that are supposed to help though. Check out hte Owens-Corning web page for what they offer.

[Stubby]

[Joseph Meehan]

The most that will fit in the cavity without compressing it.

Since there should be little or no temperature difference R value is meaningless.

I suggest adding an additional layer of drywall as that will do far more good than stuffing standard insulation in there. The do make some sound control insulation that will help some.

Even more important would be any air to air exchanges. For example you don't want to use a shared air return as the sound will just travel through it from room to room.

Laundries have a special issue with vibration. You want to isolate the machinery from the structure with flexible materials.

You should be able to find a lot of ideas and maybe some products at:

You also want to prevent any direct solid connections. Stagger wall studs or use special isolation devices to keep the sound from traveling through the wall (remember the two cans on a string (well wire actuarially worked) you want to break the wire).

Filling in wall cavities with sound absorbing materials (accustical fiberglass bats) will do a little.

The isolation stuff for the equipment can be done later.

[Jay Stootzmann]

First you need to air seal any potential avenues for air filtration

I used the Dow spray foam that comes in a can -- get closed cell type.

Then add as much insulation that you can without compressing the fiberglass.

Good luck.

[hallerb]

seal all around outlets etc, use unfaced insulation and cover all inside walls with heavy mill plastic like 10 mill.

the big rush 48 hours isnt good it will lead to cuttiong corners and endless energy loss.....

I would price closed cell foam in place, its sound deadening and a excellent insulator, but requires a pro install.

if you ever heat just some rooms like we do insulate between floors

[m Ransley]

Fiberglass batt is all apx the same 3.5R per inch, if you want to save use R 7.2" foamboard, you wont save on heating using fiberglass over what you had