Expert: Dave Johnson - 2/27/2007

Question
It's the whole house.  It's cold and heating bills are ridiculous.

I would do every interior wall, exterior wall, and ceiling (can do from the attic, I presume) to try to preserve heat.  Eventually, I will need to have vinyl siding looked at to see if there is any insulation under it.  The previous owner had it sided in the late 90's, but I don't know what's under it.

The house is a 1950's ranch on a sloped lot which makes the front at street level at the first floor and the rear at street level at the basement.  The whole place seems to have SOME insulation but it does not look well done or thick enough.

Thanks for any help!

Answer
O.K.
When I said interior, I meant the inside of the exterior walls. There ids no need to insulate interior partitions.
To get the best insulation I suggest stripping the drywall from the INSIDE of the EXTERIOR walls; If the walls are 2"x4" fill the voids with unfaced fiberglass and apply
at least 1/2" of foil faced rigid foam before re-applying the drywall.
If the walls are 2"x6" you can use just r-19 fiberglass, but I think if you've gone that far add the foam as well.
When you check under the siding there probably isn't anything more than a quarter inch of some crap sold by the siding guys.
Hope this helps...
Dave