how do I insulate without removing drywall?

[cedarglen]

Before we bought our house, somebody enclosed our 3rd car garage to make a bedroom. They did a good job, but the exterior walls have no insulation in them.  2x6 construction with stucco on the outside and 1/2" drywall on the inside. Are there any tricks out there for insulating a finished room? I don't want to tear out the drywall. Thinking there must be a way of cutting small holes between the studs and pumping in loose insulation of some kind. Anybody?

thx
Charles

[jraabe]

You're on the right track. There are several types of insulation that could be used for what you suggest. Fire retardant cellulose is common. You may have an installer licensed for the BIBS (blown in batt system). And then there are foams that may be able to be installed that way.

I would call around to the insulation contractors and find who has been doing similar projects, what R-value to expect and, of course, how much will it cost.

One more thing to ask: How many holes (one in each stud bay would be ideal) and who patches that up?

[Okie_Bob]

John, you are right on once again. I talked to the Icynene guy about this very subject. He showed me pictures he took of an old home he experimented with when he first started spraying Icynene for a living. It was a really old home his grandparents had left him and not occupied for many years and had NO insulation. He drilled holes between studs that looked to be about 1" dia. Only problem was that the darn stuff found lots of holes in the exterior siding and spread all over the outside of the house! And I do mean all over it!

If I were going to use an expanding form for this uninsulated bedroom/garage in question, I'd definately talk to the contractor about it first. I love the way it seals all the cavities but, not sure I would be happy to have it coming out the exterior. But, it would not be too difficult to clean it up and with stucco it might not be a problem at all.
Okie Bob

[jraabe]

Interesting Bob!

I hadn't heard of that problem before — with older leaky houses and foamed in place insulation. It must have been interesting to watch the house sprouting "whiskers" on the outside while foam was pumped in to the walls from the inside.  :-/

Icynene is great at air sealing. Now we know the downside of that characteristic.