Best Insulation For Older Homes

You have an older home that needs more insulation. It might be a historic home with stone walls or wood-clad siding. Or, it may be a few decades old. Regardless, you're searching for the best insulation for your home.

South Central Services has insulated hundreds of existing homes around Greencastle and Mercersburg, PA. Which insulation is best for your home will depend on a variety of factors, including your goal for your home and its new insulation.

By the time you’ve finished reading, you’ll know:

• What factors influence the choice of insulation in an older home
• Which insulations we recommend for older homes
• Which insulations we caution using

Don't have time to read right now? Check out everything you need to know at a glance.

What Is Your Goal In Adding New Insulation?

Often, the reason we seek out new insulation is because we're facing a frustrating problem in our home. Maybe your energy bills have been higher in summer or winter. Perhaps your home is uncomfortable during days with extreme weather.

If your goal is to lower your energy bills permanently, you'll want to invest in insulation with great performance. If you're less concerned about energy costs or improved comfort, you may not need to splurge on expensive insulation.

How Much More Will Great Performing Insulation Cost?

For many situations, the cost difference between standard and premium insulation is smaller than you might think. Here's an example.

Suppose you want to upgrade your attic insulation. You could spend about $6,000 on insulation with average performance, like blown-in or batt. Or, you could pay $8,000 for a premium product that offers a better insulating performance for the lifetime of your home. It makes sense to make that jump if you can afford the $2,000 increase.

Insulations We Recommend For Older Homes

Any of the insulations that our team installs can be used in an older home. These products include:

• Fiberglass batts
• Blown-in cellulose
• Dense pack cellulose
• Open cell spray foam
• Closed cell spray foam

Which of these options you should choose depends on a couple of factors.

Is Your Thermal Envelope Easily Accessed?

Insulation belongs in the thermal envelope of a home. When insulation is lacking in the thermal envelope, homes struggle to maintain a consistent temperature.

You'll have more insulation options if your home is in the middle of a remodel. During a remodel, your exterior walls can easily be accessed. Even if you aren't remodeling, your basement, crawl space, and attic are accessible.

If you're currently living in your older home, your exterior walls may not be accessible. However, you can still have those other areas of the thermal envelope insulated.

Where Will The Insulation Be Installed?

Different areas of the home have different insulation options.

Your attic is an accessible, above-grade area in your home. Attics have the most insulation options. Fiberglass batts, blown-in cellulose, dense pack, and both types of spray foam are options for attics.

Your basement and crawl space are also usually accessible, but these areas are considered below-grade. Below-grade areas have significantly fewer options for insulation. Closed cell spray foam is the primary insulation option for basements and crawl spaces.

Your exterior walls are difficult to access, but they are also above-grade. If there is no drywall or plaster in the way, your walls could be insulated with batt, dense pack, open cell spray foam, or closed cell spray foam.

Do You Want Lower Energy Bills?

If your main goal is to see a significant and permanent reduction in your energy costs, you'll want to get premium insulation like spray foam. Spray foam offers an airtight seal and a high R-value. Between these two features, spray foam can stop all three forms of heat transfer. Less energy wasted means lower energy bills!

If you're not as concerned about lower energy costs, opt for more budget-friendly insulation like blown-in cellulose or fiberglass batts.

Insulation We Don't Recommend

One popular insulation product for older homes is injection foam. Injection foam and spray foam are often mixed up online, but they are two different products.

Spray foam insulation rapidly expands and is made from the chemical reaction of two compounds. Injection foam has three components, and it very slowly expands in existing cavities.

In our experience, injection foam is not the most reliable or effective product. In an older home, injection foam may be a reasonable option, especially for exterior walls without any insulation.

Injection foam is an option you could explore. However, it is the recommendation of South Central Services to opt for other insulations that have more control over variables. While tearing down drywall to insulate your exterior walls may be a pain, completely exposing the wall cavities gives an excellent view of any potential problems inside the wall.

The Bottom Line About Which Insulation Is Best For Older Homes

The right insulation product for your home will depend on your goals, where you're insulating, and how accessible your home is. Older homes that are mid-remodel have the most insulation options available. Otherwise, accessible areas of your home, such as your attic, basement, and crawl space, can be insulated.

Batts, blown-in, dense pack cellulose, open cell spray foam, and closed cell spray foam are all potential options for an older home. If you want to find out which combination of these is best for your house, contact a professional insulation contractor.

Now that you understand which insulations could be used in your older home, your next step is to:

• Compare blown–in cellulose and spray foam insulation
• Learn about the best insulation options for attics
• Discover why fiberglass shouldn’t go in your crawl space