How to insulate cement block house?
 

I live in a single-story house of 2100 sq. ft. Though I'm in Northern California where it has barely gotten down to freezing a couple of times in recent years (that will change in a day or two!), it's like living in a tomb and my energy costs are high.
I have enough interior space that I can stand to lose some by insulating the interior walls. I would like to know how best to do this at reasonable cost. I have wondered if insulation could be placed against the interior walls and then cover that with sheetrock. Also, would a vapor barrier be needed?
Thanks,
Ray Mac.

Welcome to the site.

I was just looking through the thread below yours the other day on Shell Busey's website. There are two short videos that breifly explain how you can insulate your basement. It shows you how to insulate as well as how to run a vapor barrier correctly around the new wall and insulation. Very good ideas.

You may or may not have to go to his site and register there to get access to the videos.

Video1

Video2

I would suggest insulating the outside of the building rather than the inside. The concrete blocks can serve as thermal mass and help to moderate the temperature inside. Though it would definitely be more expensive (you would have to reside your house) and you couldn't stage it by doing one room at a time.

Thanks for the replies.
Well, my thought was that if I tried to insulate the outside of the house, interior heat could be lost by transfer into the walls and down into the foundation. In that case the walls would not serve as thermal mass unless there also was insulation between the walls and foundation, impossible to do.
Ray Mac.

I have about 400 sq ft of family room and a bath that has a block wall. A couple of years ago I remodeled it. I used dry loc on all of the interior walls, attached 2x2 to the block, insulated, and dry walled. The difference has been amazing. Drafts reduced, and less energy usage.

Insulation from inside may destruct your concrete walls, because they will be absolutly freezed in winter, so it is better to make insulation only from outside!