Comfenergy Case Studies: Drafty Walls-Linden, VA

Challenge

This Linden, VA homeowner was complaining that every time the wind blew you could feel a draft coming through the walls. Specifically on the second floor in the bedrooms.  The house was built to meet code and used fiberglass batts in these walls.  Even though the walls had house wrap, they still were drafty!

Solution

Comfenergy used thermal imagery to find gaps in the wall insulation that were causing the walls to be drafty on windy days.  The solution???  Dense packing these walls with TruSoft cellulose!!  The vinyl siding was temporarily removed and holes were drilled in the exterior wall sheathing.  TruSoft cellulose was densely packed into the walls to fill all the voids left by the fiberglass batts.

The holes were plugged with a wooden dowel plug, and then taped with Tyvek tape. The vinyl siding was re-installed and now there are no drafty walls!!  A side benefit to tihs dense packing is that cellulose has superior sound suppression capabilities. Less noise transfer from outside!!

Project Summary

Evaluator: Scott Beers