Interior Brick Wall Insulation

Covering up the brick.

Interior brick wall insulation.

The thin furring strips that hold the inside walls to this material leaves little room for insulation. Here are the steps. I ve met a lot of homeowners in my years in this business and i think that without a single exception all of them who lived in homes with old exposed brick walls wanted to keep them that way. Very old brick homes often have no space to add insulation as the plaster was applied directly to the brick wall.

From the interior remove any drywall plaster or lath that is covering the brick wall. Insulating the interior of a solid brick wall can be problematic for two reasons. The interior walls are plaster lathed directly against the brick with no insulation in between. How to insulate an older brick home can be a challenge.

In a perfect world you would be able to unscrew invisible bolts remove drywall panels install insulation and reinstall the panels our less than perfect world of permanently attached wallboard means time consuming hacking away of gypsum individually removing drywall screws or nails installing r 13 or greater fiberglass roll insulation and re installing the drywall. A recent building science corp. Foam insulation is often sprayed in through holes in the interior walls that must then be filled and re painted. It s just such a nice look.

Fortunately we have blown in insulation in the attic that is functioning. Exposing a small wall may not affect your heating bill much but exposing a large wall or multiple walls is going to reduce the energy efficiency of your home. One common method for insulating the interior of solid masonry walls is to build a 2x4 frame wall in front of the brick and fill it with insulation. Article on insulating brick bearing walls says that insulating on the interior with cellulose if ok in a hot humid climate brick should have a fluid applied 10 perm air water barrier coating on the inside face of the brick.

Most brick walls are covered on the inside to not only give the wall a finished look but to add insulation and reduce drafts through gaps in the mortar. If furring strips were nailed to the inner masonry there is only a narrow 3 4 inch space to add insulation. Here are the steps.