the cabinet won, I have the only bathroom remodel in this demographic that kept its 1974 built in base cabinet, which is more ecological.

got to bash in the drywall though, to allow plumbing access and insulation, above the cabinet

so the wall was insulated and plumbing replaced without moving the cabinet. Foamed in Polyisocyan.... acting also as a vapor barrier, then some recycled cotton denim insulation batts to fill the rest of the space. The cotton batts in this location were from a neighbor who was getting those weekly meal cooking boxes, the cotton was the insulation from that, wrapped in plastic. I took it out of the plastic. Making use of leftover polyisocyan.... pieces as it was not for a radient barrier in this location, just insulation and vapor barrier. This is above the vanity cabinet, so much plumbing, the other bathroom is right over this, and the water heater is in the utility room right behind this.

under vanity cabinet

then the recycled cotton insulating batts on top

This project is on hold due to the fire remediation, but it has all drywall work, plumbing, insulation, tiled shower and tiled floor. -- just needs the bare drywall to have tape/mud and maybe plaster or paint someday

So my utility room ( which mostly functions as a large pantry and laundry room) had smoke damage during the fire. It had the ceiling and insulation taken out. So then might as well check if anything else needs to be done. Decided to move the laundry area, to the old darkroom area ( the utility room area of the water heater, behind the bathroom) and away from food storage, the way they kluged in a washing machine drain where it was meant that it was open behind the kitchen cabinet, no drywall, to have the drain pipe go into the kitchen and down the floor there. Realy. about 4 square feet of no wall, this is like an open window all the time for energy loss. Then, why not a light switch by the other door ? And ... The electricians noticed a problem. More wall areas get cut open. If that small, uninsulated wall area is going to need 3 large patches, so almost half the area patched, and the ceiling is all gone, well, just take that off and the bonus is now that area can now be insulated too.

They do not make the recycled denim insulation, it stopped during COVID, but I found and ad of someone selling a bale of it. That is the door from the utility room to the kitchen, it has already been replaced with an insulated door a few years ago.

Air sealing is VERY important. just hiding issues behind drywall causes heat loss, some of this was hid before. If you can see that area in the open left wall cavity, top of it, orange great stuff pro is blown in ? That area was open to the kitchen across the whole wall. The kitchen has a dropped ceiling. That is the area above the dropped ceiling. Air gaps like that are more important to fix than insulation. The 2 patches between the upstairs floor joists, rectangle on left, orange circle. Those were cut last month by the electricians to do the wiring rerouting, and open also to that area above the dropped kitchen ceiling.

Huge wire run area. Showing the orange foam for the part left open during building, and then the circles cut into the blocking by the electricians. That is a brand new main circuit panel, get things fixed now while we can get supplies.

I shoved insulation pieces into the area between the cut opening and the new panel. I used a small piece of WOOD -- wood doesnt conduct electricity, even though it shouldnt have mattered -- be safe. Then I had thinner pieces of insulation, in my case, I still had a little of the packing material insulation, which is thinner, otherwise you need to tear your thicker insulation down the center --- wear eye protection, sleeves, and a respirator if using fiberglass.

You cant just cover the top of a mess of wires or pipes with insulation, leaving air spaces. The point of cavity insulation is to impede air circulation within the cavity. It works if it FILLS the cavity. That means you have to rip it apart and have some behind the wire, in between the wires, on top of the wires. This cavity insulation is impeding convection, one of the only 3 types of heat transfer. It is also fluffy, so it does not conduct well, thus also impeding conduction ( all that wood you see does conduct some heat, not as well as metal, but better than fluffy insulation).

The area below the panel still needs me to rip apart and shove insulation into it. It would be nice to have some blow in insulation, but no one in the free exchanges seems to have any, but someone did give me alittle more of the cotton batts, as that is nicer to rip apart than fiberglass.

Notice that the wire penetrations have been foamed. Those wires enter the bathroom, heated area of the house, on the other side of that 2x4. All penetrations between heated and unheated areas must be foamed and sealed. If not foamed, then use an old school plumbing caulk. But, something.

The area in the photo is from by the water heater and opens into the wall in the upstairs bathroom under the vanity up there. I had no idea. They just decided to leave off blocking in a few places there when building. I foamed the plumbing penetrations thru the 2x4 on the bottom, I will cover this side with drywall or plywood, then insulate the wall cavity from the other side, as it turns out that the upstairs bathroom also does not have any insulation in its exterior wall ! But, that is for another day. Caulk and seal all cracks and openings !

that is what started this area. The ceiling. The ceiling is unvented, so it is not supposed to have batt insulation under building code. I think maybe a dense batt insulation like rock wool, cotton or wool might be ok, but I dont know and I do know it would not be to code. There was a mold problem previously, years ago, in that ceiling as it did have the fiberglass batts and also had both the stove fan and downstairs bathroom fan just vented directly into the utility room ( which itself has no windows or venting ! the bathroom fan now is routed to the outside, the stove fan no longer vents anywhere) . Spray foam is legal, but in an inclosed retrofit area that could cause problems as it has no way to outgas and I have asthma. I actually want this area to be cold, but I don't like it getting too hot as I store food there. So, I almost put in just a radient barrier, but I had some sheets of polyisocyan.... free, leftovers from someone elses remodel work, and that also will impede conduction and some convection there too. If that foam panel is up against the underside of the roof deck, it is legal and should keep moisture from condensing.

There must be an air gap for a radient barrier to work, so here you see the shiny side down, and there is an airgap between it and the drywall. I did not fill this with batt insulation.

While I was installing, I could notice the difference in heat coming thru the cavities between the joists where I had placed this and the blank one next to it. I used an infrared thermometer and there was a 50' F temperature difference between the area with no radient barrier and the place where I had just put it.

I found out how much nicer it is to work with the great stuff pro gun than the cans. Wish I had known about that years ago. Less mess, none in my hair with it, better control and precision, faster.

Sealing the edges does 2 things, it helps hold it up, and it keeps air from getting to the underside of the roof deck where it could condense. We held the pieces up with a couple nails under, sideways into the joists, to hold it tight until foamed.

I also insulated the blocking, in between the joists. But I dont have a photo of that and now the drywall is up.

As, for example, all wires run in attics are literally buried under a few feet of loose or batt thermal insulation. And, any wires in external walls also of course are covered by insulation ? I mean, yes, I can see that wires wont dissapate heat as well if they are covered, but arent they covered usually ? We need an electrician to chime in.

You can insulate the ceiling and take out your other insulation.

But, if it were me, I wouldnt throw away the existing insulation I would leave it there and just add a radiant barrier up between the rafters. It can be insulation plus radiant barrier, or just a radiant barrier. But why take out and throw away the existing insulation ? YOu can staple up a perforated radiant barrier to the roof joists, like this ( I am not endorsing tis particular one, there are a few sources for this, shop around) http://www.energyefficientsolutions.com/ARMAFOIL.asp

I asked him his thoughts. He says it would have to be old wire to be an issue. Knob and tube for sure cannot be buried, and maybe houses that are right after knob and tube but still super old.

My house is only 50 years old, the materials are fairly modern, the amount on each circuit not excessive

And, as far as adding an outlet or two in a line. Depends on house. But, realy, we have outlets scattered around for convenience, like being able to plug in a vacume in various areas, but we are not using a vacume in all areas at once. And, even if somehow too much is plugged in, the circuit breaker and wire should be set compatible, so your circuit breaker will trip before you overload the wire.

If you have reason to think that over the years, your circuits are not correct, this should be remedied by your electrician ! For example, you notice turning on the microwave when the refrigerator is cycling trips your breaker, etc... then yes, dont do any othe rupgrades until your electric is sorted out, including insulation.

http://insulationinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/NAIMA-Tech-Tip...

print out while it is still up, I am finding so many things no longer hosted that I used to be able to Link to

This shows how wiring is supposed to be in the middle of the insulation including by the electrical box, the breaker box, etc...