Cape Cod makeover, siding/insullation ?'s

Started by Forgedblades, April 07, 2006, 02:23:27 PM

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Forgedblades

First off I'm new here, just found this board and I'm sure glad I did.  I have a 1.5 story pretty standard Cape Cod in Milwaukee, WI.  I am planning to do a complete tear off of the siding (original 1952 wood siding in tough shape), and while I'm at it I'm thinking it would make sense to take off all the old sheathing and get some R-13 into the walls, which have virtually nothing in them for Insualtion.  My plan was to put R-13 Kraft faced batts "in reverse" so that the Kraft facing is on the inside same as if I had been doing the work from the inside.  Then 1/2" OSB, followed by either a Housewrap or Perhaps felt, foam board to get it back out to the correct depth and then side with Vinyl siding.  (Yes doing all this "myself").  Does this seem like a good plan to you more experienced types or am I making some flawed decisions/ or incorrect steps?  I sincerely apprecaite any input that can be shared.

Sincerely,
Dan
"Forgedblades"
"Of course I did it myself, you don't see anyone else here volunteering to do it for me did you?"

bartholomew

If you use a blow in insulation you won't have to pull off and replace all the sheathing.


manhattan42

I own and live in a cape age approximately the same as yours.

What you may actually find for the period is that there is no exterior sheathing, rather the clapboard wood siding is installed directly to the studs or to the studs over tar impregnated homosote type sheathing. Celotex was a manufacturer of the stuff back then.

I did the same thing you did and wouldn't think of using blown cellulose.

Blown cellulose won't fill all the voids and will compact to about 1/2 cavity full in short order.

I used fiberglass for ease and cost then reinstalled OSB sheathing.

PEG688

 Forgedblades : Here's what I did when I replaced my siding ,




 I stripped the siding off , then removed the top most sheathing  board .   I then put blown in insulation into the stud bays , I had to just drop it in as the blower the lumber yard had was / is broken . I just took the insulation out of the main bundle,, put it in a trash bag ,, climbed the ladder and push it down each bay , I banged on the sheathing and used a push stick to fill each bay up , compressing it as I went .

I don't think I overly compressed it doing it this way , it "fluffed "out of the spaces between my boards ,  after the bay was filled I put R-13 regular insulation in at the top then put the top board back on ,

 


   You will have to remove any boards below your windows and insulate those stud bays  with batts .

 I also replaced all the old wood dbl. hung windows with vinyl single  hung windows .


  I then papered using Typar on this wall , ran 6" wide felt strips , this was before Grace / vycor was around , and put on my trim and siding ,

 

 

 So I'd say you could do the deal like you said by removing all the boards and re sheathing with OSB , or you might try what I did.

 BTW I'd use 15 lbs. felt on my side walls if I had to do it again , some say 30 lbs felt . Which is really for under roofing , or if your in a high rain area a rain wall system where the paper first then vertcal 1x4  then siding over those .  

 That would IMO be over kill unless you live in a tropical climate or down south,   Fl.  , Tex coast , Miss, etc high wind driven rain , huricane weather stuff.

 Good luck, PEG  




When in doubt , build it stout with something you know about .

PEG688

 Bart / Manhatten,,,  what,,,, no photos  ::)   ;)

 If you have fire blocking or some old ballon framing you'll have other issues of course.

 Good luck , PEG
When in doubt , build it stout with something you know about .


manhattan42

Cut me some slack, PEG!

There wasn't even a thing called an 'internet' or 'digital' cameras back when I did mine! ;)

PEG688

#6
QuoteCut me some slack, PEG!

There wasn't even a thing called an 'internet' or 'digital' cameras back when I did mine! ;)


[highlight] "There's no slack in light attack" [/highlight], we used to say in NAVAIR, (naval aviation).


 

 

 Like wise when I did my place , I just happened to take those photos with a regular camera when I redid the siding . I just recently scanned them , transfered them to digital and loaded them into photo bucket about 2 weeks ago  :) for some unknown , then , reason.

 Here's a shots of the  house as it looked 20 years ago ,

 

 when we bought it . And a few of it as it sits now ,

 





 Details ,

 

 
When in doubt , build it stout with something you know about .

glenn kangiser

You really changed that from a typical West Coast house into a really neat one, PEG.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

PEG688

QuoteYou really changed that from a typical West Coast house into a really neat one, PEG.



 [size=14]  Thanks Glenn  :) I even got a permit for some of it  :-[
 PEG  
  [/size]
When in doubt , build it stout with something you know about .


glenn kangiser

I'm proud of you for the part you didn't get a permit for.   :)   Nothing like seeing a man exercising his freedom.  ::)
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

bartholomew

PEG, I got a digicam not too long ago and will take lots of photos of my cabin construction for you. I'm only planning to get site clearing, geo-tech review, septic, and maybe some stairs and the foundation layout done this year though.

Manhattan, if the cavity ends up only half full then the installer intentionally ripped off the home owner. If cellulose is packed in tight enough it should not settle. Other options are fibreglass or rock wool, neither of which settles very much. Voids can be avoided by dropping the hose to the bottom of the cavity and then pulling it back up slowly while filling. It's possible there could be small voids left behind electrical boxes or whatever, but that wouldn't worry me enough to make me pull all the sheathing (assuming the sheathing is still in good shape).

Forgedblades

QuoteI own and live in a cape age approximately the same as yours.

What you may actually find for the period is that there is no exterior sheathing, rather the clapboard wood siding is installed directly to the studs or to the studs over tar impregnated homosote type sheathing. Celotex was a manufacturer of the stuff back then.

I did the same thing you did and wouldn't think of using blown cellulose.

Blown cellulose won't fill all the voids and will compact to about 1/2 cavity full in short order.

I used fiberglass for ease and cost then reinstalled OSB sheathing.

Firstly, thanks to everyone for the replies.  I'm avoiding the blown Cellulose for exactly the reasons given above.  I've heard to many storites about that.  I had some of the siding off back when I did replace some the the windows and I can attest that in fact I do have sheathing underneath the siding, it has Tar Paper on it as well.
"Of course I did it myself, you don't see anyone else here volunteering to do it for me did you?"