Big Head
,
Wednesday, 11th of August 2010 06:19:38 AM
l am currently considering purchasing a brick home built in 1910 in the
Big Head
upper Midwest. Energy efficiency is a big concern for me. This home has
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many exposed brick walls on the INSIDE of the home, on both exterior and
Joined: Thursday, 3rd of June 2010, 05:53:49
interior walls. l have never seen this before and am unsure as to what
Posts: 103
this implies about insulation or lack thereof. l noticed that the exterior
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brick appears to be non-structural (ie, l do not see any courses laid on
end, aka headers) and is dark red, while the interior brick has header
courses and is a lighter color brick. (l have some photos if this would be
useful.) Can anyone decipher, without opening up a wall, whether there is
wood framing inside these walls? Is it likely there is insulation between
the brick layers? Also, was the interior brick meant to be exposed? It is
attractive but I am worried this could be an energy hog. Any advice would
be much appreciated!
Babydoll
,
Thursday, 12th of August 2010 02:35:56 AM
With a house as old as the one you are saying, I doubt there is
Babydoll
any wood framing in the walls. You should actually look at that as a good
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thing if you did buy, as it would take away one aspect of potential decay
Joined: Saturday, 22nd of May 2010, 11:24:13
in the structure. It is possible that the exterior brick is only a
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veneer. This is the term used if a wall system is used to cover the
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structure & made to look like the actual wall. If the brick on the house
is a veneer, there is likely a more strudy block underneath it that is
actually bearing the house.
Now it is also completely possible, as you suggested, that the interior
brick is the load bearing structure. Now you have to remember when this
house was built. Synthetic materails were not a common back in the early
1900's. It is unlikley that the house has insulation in the walls. A
common practice of that time was to actually build a double or even triple
wythe wall system. A wythe is basically a line of bricks. In a multiple
wythe system a wall of bricks is laid, an air space is left, & then
another wall is constructed. This achieves a better system of insulation
than just one brick wall. It is a similar idea to a double pane window.
This form of insulation works pretty well. You will often get better &
more consistent insulation from this version then you would from pourly
placed synthetic insulation in a modern house.
There are companies you can hire to come out & assess the insulation
properties of a building. I would imagine that any energy savings you
might find by doing this would quickly be eaten by the costs. The other
suggestion I would make is going to the local jurisdiction & obtaining a
copy of the plans. I am not sure how large of a town you are in, but
assuming the house was in some local jurisdiction when it was built, it
probably needed a building permit. This means there should be plans on
file (assuming they were not lost, stolen, distroyed, etc.). If there are
plans it would show the structure of the walls, & should show the
insulation as well. That is ur best bet. Good luck.