If you have an older home, you may need to change some things. For example, you may need new windows, flooring, doors, and more. Another thing that you may need is new wall insulation. There are many reasons why you would need to replace the insulation, three of which are listed below.
If you had any type of flooding due to heavy rain, the rain could possibly penetrate the insulation. Once this happens, the insulation will start to dissolve and over time will go away completely. It will also cause things like mold and mildew to build up inside your walls, which can get into your home when your HVAC unit is running.
First, you need to determine how the water is getting into your wall cavities. This could be due to many things, such as porous walls, large cracks in the foundation, problems with gutters, roof problems, and more. If you cannot determine what it is, then you need to hire a professional to find the problem and repair it so this does not happen again.
If the insulation was not blown in or installed correctly when it was first installed in the home, there will be spaces in the cavity, also known as voids. For example, the insulation may not have been blown in evenly or may not have blown in enough. You may just have to add more insulation to it, but you also may have to remove all the wall cavity insulation and replace it completely.
If one area of your walls is like this, the contractor will have to check all wall cavities just in case all walls have this problem.
Because your house is old, the insulation is likely old also. Over time, insulation will start to deteriorate. This does depend on what type of materials the insulation is made of. It could degrade and shrink over time, which will cause a lot of empty spaces in your cavity walls.
If you do not take care of this problem, your home will end up with no insulation at all. You would then notice that your home will be much cooler in the winter and hotter in the summer. This will also cause your energy bills to rise, as your HVAC unit will have to run much more than it normally does.
If you have questions about any of this, talk with the contractor that you hire to replace your wall insulation.