How To Insulate Old House By Removing The Shiplap Siding

Most of the walls have 1x8 shiplap boards installed under the plaster and lath.

How to insulate old house by removing the shiplap siding.

I live in a 120 year old house in climate zone 4a. The house is drafty in the winter with drops of 10 20 between thermostat and walls in quite a few places. The interior has no insulation. This article hits near home for me as i m evaluating my old house reno.

In the 80s the home owners stuccoed the house against the clap boards without a wrb. My plan is to remove everything down to the studs i m cleaning out the old blown in insulation and in some cases fiberglass insulation that was installed backwards when the house was resided back in the 60s plus rewiring and installing new insulation. Adding insulation to the walls of an old house without any other precautions can result is rotting walls full of mold under certain circumstances. Throughout most of the house the shiplap was nailed to the outside of the exterior walls and the inside was lath and plaster.

In other cases drilling holes in the walls or removing a couple courses of clapboard to blow insulation into the stud bays may work with no problems. There is no better time to add insulation to the walls of an existing home than when new siding is installed.