Insulation and furring, Part 1

Okay, I need to vent. In St. Louis County, insulation is paramount to all things construction (in residential), at least since the “green” movement hit the consumer masses. In St. Louis City, it is not. These are different regions functioning on different plans. In the county, the inspection divisions have such a large tax-base, that the inspectors can actually inspect each job based on CODE and good common construction sense. In the City, the line gets a bit more blurry as the tax base is smaller and and any improvement over plaster-on-brick construction is an improvement whether it follows energy-efficiency or not. The inspectors know their business in both cases, but the city inspectors are left with the conundrum of whether to enforce the codes and the common sense, or risk potentially pricing people out of city living.

If you are buying a city or a county home over 20 yrs old, there will be costs to maintaining it, period. In the codes enforced by the City, there is no rule that states that one MUST insulate in their project unless it is new construction or an attic. Let’s clear this up, ALL insulation is good insulation! Drywall does not count as insulation nor does an “air-space” when talking about weather-sealing insulation. R13 is better than R>1 (just drywall) or plaster-on-brick, or the same with drywall over that, or drywall on studs can offer.  But, no insulation in furred walls over masonry is still code-legal for walls in most historic and older-urban situations where one is remodeling and already starting from the zero insulation number.