Re-Insulating the Kitchen...

[AC_Hacker]

I live in a small, 120 year old house. When I moved in there was no insulation at all. I started with R13 fiber glass in the cavities, with no knowledge of, or regard for movement of air in the wall cavity. As the project slowly progressed, my methods have also progressed. I have come to realize how serious the energy issue is and how important it is to insulate really well. So I am now at a point where I am removing insulation I previously used and updating it, using better materials and techniques.

I have settled on using EPS rigid foam board in the wall cavities, and increasing the wall cavity by 50% (to an actual 6 inches), and filling the cavity with EPS (three layers of 2" board), that is carefully cut, layered and sealed.

In the kitchen, three of the walls are exposed, and I have already insulated the ceiling, and two walls, leaving the third wall and underneath the floor to do now.

First job was to remove the sheet rock. Here is the 4" wall with the R15 fiber glass waiting to be replaced.

Here is the wall with the R15 removed. I put duplex outlets along the top of the walls, as well as the bottom for greater flexibility in lighting. The top outlet of the outlet is switched by the kitchen light switch, the lower outlet is always on... Note the caulking that I did from inside the wall... I was trying...

Because I will be making the wall 2" thicker, the electric outlets will need to be brought forward by that amount... In some cases, there is enough extra wire in the wall to allow for the outlet move, in other cases, I will need to re-wire.

Here the firring is going on. One of the last things I learned about is the importance of reducing thermal bridging, do I am using skip-spacers and filling the spaces between spacers with 1/2" foam strips. Not the very best way to prevent thermal bridging, but better than nothing.

-AC_Hacker