Best Insulation For Exterior Brick Walls

Many solid walls including double brick walls see figure 7 1 have a small cavity generally less than 25 mm 1 in which is a drainage plane that collects and drains water out of the wall.

Best insulation for exterior brick walls.

The thin furring strips that hold the inside walls to this material leaves little room for insulation. The only option is to add insulation to the exterior or to the interior. If that s the case extra space has to be built for the insulation to go into. Of course the best way to insulate this type of building is on the exterior with a layer of exterior rigid foam protected by synthetic stucco eifs or mineral wool panels.

A double brick exterior means you have two brick walls strapping probably just an inch thick then lath and plaster. Then all the. In a perfect world you would be able to unscrew invisible bolts remove drywall panels install insulation and reinstall the panels our less than perfect world of permanently attached wallboard means time consuming hacking away of gypsum individually removing drywall screws or nails installing r 13 or greater fiberglass roll insulation and re installing the drywall. So now we re bringing in framers.

We live in a 1961 brick house in tucson az without any insulation of the exterior brick walls. If furring strips were nailed to the inner masonry there is only a narrow 3 4 inch space to add insulation. Adding extra insulation to the exterior walls of an older home when renovating or remodeling is a great way of improving a home s walls thermal performance and reducing energy use while reducing heating bills carbon footprint and improving a building s comfort level. I ve talked in the past about how blown in insulation is highly recommended for northern california but this is especially true when it comes to how to insulate solid brick walls in old homes from the exterior.

Blown in insulation also known as foam or spray in insulation is ideal for filling in nooks and crannies when. If the house has a double brick or block and brick exterior a new wall has to be framed out. Foam insulation is often sprayed in through holes in the interior walls that must then be filled and re painted. Very old brick homes often have no space to add insulation as the plaster was applied directly to the brick wall.

How to insulate house walls from the outside. Never insulate these cavities or plug their drain holes. Our insulation delivers a number of benefits beyond thermal performance in external walls such as best in class fire resistance exceptional noise reduction water repellence as well as vapor permeability and dimensional stability meaning excellent fit and real world performance for the lifetime of the building. Outer walls may be 4 inch thick bricks with inner walls of concrete brick or cinder block that is also 4 inches thick.