Hi everyone. I am new to these boards.
I own a seasonal home in northeastern Pa. which was built in the early 80's. I wish to live there year round. The house has electric heat....and a gas fireplace used for heat. My question is this. the outside of the house is 12" clapboard siding. Under the clapboard is nothing....just the insulation and then sheetrock (inside). There is no plywood under the siding. What can be done to make this house warmer. Can the siding be removed...plywood put up, and then vinyl siding added? Would the cost of this be so prohibitive as to make it worth while to sell and find another home? I really would appreciate anyone with construction/engineering know how to give me guidance. The home is approximately 1400 square feet, two story, with a loft. Thanks so much.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pennsylvania Barb,

Doing what you suggest would add virtually nothing to the insulating value of the walls, and would cost a small fortune.

Some questions:
1. Do you know whether the walls are built with 2x4 or 2x6 studs?
2. Do you have access to any attic or roof to add more insulation there?
3. Is the main floor over a typical old Poconos crawl space? (such as one with unparged and un-dampproofed foundation walls, a flimsy and ineffective vapor retarder, no concrete floor slab, inadequate vents, soaking wet insulation, a fair amount of mold, and some rotted structural members, but other than that, everything is OK) )

If the walls are already insulated, I would try to add more insulation elsewhere if it can be done easily. I'd guess that with a loft, you have vaulted ceilings, so the roof is not going to be an easy place to add insulation, but the floor would certainly be one, and if the second floor other than the loft has a flat ceiling, you could add insulation there.

Do your windows have insulating glass? If not, money would be well spent either on replacements, or on storm windows. Are the doors insulated? There is amother very small improvement, if not.

Another good place to spend money is caulking and sealing everywhere possible. The power company often will do a survey of your home, to identify places where energy (particularly heat) can be saved. There are also private companies that will do an infra-red scan of your home, which will identify sources of heat loss. Do one or both of these studies, and then you'll know where to caulk and seal.

If you really want to change your siding to vinyl, then you will have to remove the clapboard and install sheathing, which could be insulating sheathing, adding some insulating value. The flimsy little backer boards they install with vinyl siding are virtually worthless for insulating value.

I would guess, from my limited but growing experience with older northeastern Pennsylvania homes, that the biggest gains can be made in the crawl space, and any attic spaces.

If you'd like me to take a look, no cost no obligation, I'm in Tobyhanna in Monroe County, and I'd be happy to do it. My email address is rhetzel@ptd.net.

Thanks for your quick response and for taking the time.
Let me see if I can answer some of your questions.
#1 - walls are 2x4
#2 There is no access to the attic as there really isnt an attic. The second floor bedroom is cathedral ceiling..and the loft has a very small space between the point of the joist and the ceiling as the outside wall is pitched.
#3 - Pretty much. The basement is less than 6 feet tall (I can stand, my husband cannot)
There is a gravel floor and cinderblock walls. The windows are small, which we compensate for by running a fan down there in the summer to circulate the air. There is no rot of the beams and no mold on the walls or beams either.The insulation appears to be dry. There is insulation under the floor boards with a plastic sheeting stapled below it. Yes, that does collect condensation, especially if we dont run the fan. The windows have all be replaced with double pane, insulated vinyl windows. This was done about 2 1/2 years ago.
My question is, as some of the clapboards are warped and cracked, if I replaced these damaged boards and perhaps caulked the small gaps in others, will this work to "seal" up the house somewhat?
Thanks again for your time.
Barbara

First, I'd recommend removing the plastic sheeting under the floor insulation...it's very possible that the sheeting is a second vapor retarder, which is not good...or else the insulation has no integral vapor retarder, in which case the plastic sheeting creates a vapor retarder on the wrong side of the assembly. Either way, it's wrong.

I'm glad to hear you have no mold or rot issues.

Now to address your desire for more warmth, you've done some of the essential steps (windows, particularly). I think the only practical way to add more would be to remove the siding, repair or replace the wall insulation from the outside, do some foam sealing around electric boxes and the like, add an insulating sheathing, and then install vinyl siding over housewrap. If you do this, you must be careful that the insulating sheathing does not create a second vapor retarder also.

If you really want a special (read: more expensive) job, use the new foam-backed vinyl siding, which looks terrific, and gives you a tiny bit more insulation too. The big difference between the foam-backed siding and regular vinyl siding is that the foam backing (which is bonded to the siding) keeps the face of the siding flat, not concave like most vinyl siding.

Another unhappy method might be to remove all the ceilings, add some wood to the bottoms of all the rafters, and install a greater thickness of insulation there. If your rafters are (I'm guessing) 2x8, then if you add a 2x4 under each one, you can get R-38 insulation in there, and still have some ventilation space. Do you have a ridge vent and soffit vents now? If not, those should be incorporated into the roof when you upgrade the insulation.

Obviously, if you were to repair or seal cracks and gaps in the siding, it will certainly help, but don't expect miracles. The biggest miracle would probably be to upgrade the walls to near R-19, or to upgrade the roof/ceilings to R-38.