Add some Insulation to the walls of your House, from the Outside

One of the big selling factors for new siding is the fact that you now have the opportunity to add some insulation to the walls of your house, from the outside. A lot of older homes out here in the Mid-West were built without a lick of insulation. These homes are expensive to heat in the winter, and expensive to cool in the summer. You can save yourself a bunch of money the first year if you install ample insulation before you start siding. You can blow insulation in the walls, and you can attach foam insulation on the outside of the walls. Some vinyl siding also comes with a foam insulation attached right to the siding, and some has a foam insert that is slipped in behind the siding.

I can tell you from personal experience, insulate, insulate, insulate.

The thicker the insulation the better

You can purchase fan-fold insulation that has various thicknesses. The thicker is usually better, but you must take into account how much thicker it will make your walls and any additional trim you´ll have to apply to doors and windows. There is another article on insulation which gives complete details on figuring R values and examples of various materials and insulation methods, along with recommended R values for different regions in the USA.

Vapor barrier and house wrap

Another important aspect at this phase is a vapor barrier. House wrap will help block wind and moisture which are other factors that help you maintain a steady temperature for a longer period of time. The longer your house stays warm, the less frequently the furnace kicks on, which saves you money. There are two ways to keep your furnace from kicking on more frequently, turn it way down so everybody is cold, or insulate your house and install house wrap. You choose the best method.

If you have a brick home or Stucco or even wood shingles, and for some reason you want to install vinyl or aluminum, you´re going to have to install furring strips. I´m going to go step-by-step in detail on this procedure in another article, so I´m not going to now, except to mention it so you know that´s what you´ll have to do.

With each of the siding treatments that I´m going to discuss, I´ll cover step-by-step procedures, but there are some things that are the same for all of them. Let´s take a look at some other insulation factors first. .