mobilehomerepair.com

We just bought an 87 mobile home and we are completely renovating the entire home. What is the best type of insulation to use on the exterior walls? Should we insulate the interior walls?

Exterior walls, definitely, make sure you have a good vapor barrier as well. Otherwise, moisture and mold will begin to grow, bad news!!

I didn't know any better and just put up insulation- NO VAPOR BARRIER. And I have everything sealed, mouldings, done! I just can't rip down the walls again so I'm going from the outside in- yep, gonna take off the siding to access the walls. It's a pain, but that vapor barrier is vital!

We will be using a barrier for sure. The mold and water damamge that is there currently are a result of no barrier before. What is the best insulation to use?

GraceNC wrote:I didn't know any better and just put up insulation- NO VAPOR BARRIER. And I have everything sealed, mouldings, done! I just can't rip down the walls again so I'm going from the outside in- yep, gonna take off the siding to access the walls. It's a pain, but that vapor barrier is vital!

What part of the country are you in? Vapor barrier is supposed to be on the warm side. If you live in a cold climate and put the vapor barrier on the outside you might be making things a lot worse. A true vapor barrier on most homes is put on the studs just before the drywall goes on and all the seams are sealed.

Pebbles wrote:We will be using a barrier for sure. The mold and water damamge that is there currently are a result of no barrier before. What is the best insulation to use?

Vapor barrier can be applied in a couple of ways. One of the best is a spray in foam, this is expensive and might not be able to be done in some mobile homes. This leaves two other ways, one is paper faced insulation and the other is unfaced insulation and then a plastic sheeting. The paper face is usually faster but leaves some gaps usally depending on the installer. Plastic goes pretty quick and if you tape the seams it is a solid vapor barrier.

There is lots of info on vapor barriers on the web and also most good insulation manufacturers websites.

I'm in NC. My plan is to take down the siding (it's just screwed on in panels) and remove the insulation and then put in the vapor barrier- all the way to the inside of the paneling. It will be a pain working around studs and such...but it has to get done. My walls are only 2 inches- I have a very old home from the 60s.

If I could- I'd have spray on foam insualation, as seen on tv- Holmes on Homes. Story goes it started out being used in commercial settings but this insulation will make it perfectly insulated!
Just can't figure out how to get that done.

If you are removing the siding that would be an ideal time to invest in "spray in insulation".

Arrange a date for them to show and simply make sure all your siding is removed in advance.
It is sprayed in, worked down flush with the outside of the studs using a hand saw and the siding reapplied. Have them spray the inside of the skirting at the same time if it is not presently insulated.

there are also DIY spray foam kits if you want to do it a section at a time.

To answer the original question from Peebles, I would use fiberglass batt insulation. This is the standard type of insulation usually installed in homes. It comes in 3 densities, standard density, medium density and high density. For 2x4 construction, standard is R-11, medium is R-13, high is R-15.

I like batt insulation because it does not require special equipment or knowledge and it is movable and reusable if I ever need to do a repair or installation in that wall. I also like the price of the install. Foam will work with wood siding or sheathing, but I would not use it on the older aluminum vertical siding.

JMO
JD

Thanks for your answer. We are using sheating not aluminum and the studs on the exterior walls are 2x4. We live in so. cal so it stays pretty warm. I think the r-11 will do just fine.