Fix minimally insulated stud wall in small corner room
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I have a laundry room, which used to be a mudroom. As a result, not much insulation was put into the walls. (thin layer of fiberglass + aluminum)
Construction vintage is mid 80’s. R15 in rest of the house but not this room! (Probably R1-R3)
The approximate dimensions are 8 ft x 6 ft, with two exterior walls.
What’s the easiest/best way to fix this? If you look online the options seem to be:
1) Foam insulation – seems expensive and messy for a small area. Lots of failure modes in terms of foam expansion and holes.
2) Blown in cellulose – seems expensive and messy for a small area.
3) Removing drywall, putting the right amount of fiberglass insulation and vapor layer in place, then closing it and repainting.
It almost seems simpler to do and cheaper to do (3). Any other ideas? Obviously if it were a lot of wall (2) might be easiest, but it’s probably less than 15 linear feet total.
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Replies
Hi user-7551473 (Would be nice to know your real name).
I'm not sure how #2 would be more messy than #3. If you can get a contractor to come out for such a small job, dense pack cellulose seems like a good option to me. Environmentally friendly, some modest air sealing value, and only small holes in the drywall to repair when the contractor is done.
Is this former mudroom by any chance a bump-out from the rest of the house? If so, continuous exterior insulation would be a great option. If not, and the laundry room walls are in plane with the rest of the houses walls, this is not a viable solution.
Not a bump out. Stucco exterior so hard to just pull it all off. The problem is it's too small a job to get a reasonable quote from a contractor. I was also thinking of just cutting bigger holes in and stuffing in batt's. Cutting a bigger hole and repainting is an easier DIY way to do it for me - but not sure if it's practical. (No one recommends it online!)
I guess I should try opening one of the voids out and see if it works.