Insulating Old Queenslander with VJ’s

[dazzler]

Howdy all

Just moved up to Toowoomba and rented an old queenslander with timber weatherboards and internal VJ linings. I ‘was’ looking to buy a similar place and reno’ it.

But mercy this place is cold as. So how do you insulate the external walls in these old places?

I would imagine the VJ’s would crack and split if you tried to remove them, which then leaves pulling the external weatherboards but they too would probably split.

Thoughts?
Experiences?

[Bushmiller]

Dazzler

Welcome to the Sunshine state (not that it is living up to it's name at the moment) and the capital of conservatism. It is very likely that your weather boards and TGV boards are Cypress Pine. It is a good timber for white ant resistence and as such is an excellent choice for this part of the world. I like it and use it quite a lot for building purposes. However it is one of the most brittle timbers imaginable, particularly when it is old. When old, and consequently dry, it is difficult to nail without splitting the timber unless right in the middle of the board. As you can imagine, removing boards without damaging them would be extremely difficult. The tongue and groove makes it more difficult again without damage. If you removed the internal boards (with the expected damge) you could replace with VJ sheeting, which will look the same as the original TGV boards. However, this is labour intensive and costly without being prohibitively expensive.

Many houses in this part of the world have only a single skin on the internal walls with the framing exposed. External walls will be double skinned. Our house 80Km west of Toowoomba was like that. If you don't wish to remove boards to insert batts, you could consider pumped loose material, but this will still require something to be removed unless the top plate can be drilled. I don't know enough about how loose insulation is inserted to offer advice. These types of houses don't have studs at 450mm or 600mm centres on the internal walls and may have only three uprights in a 3m wall. They rely more on the vertical TGV boards, which are quite thick (20mm).

Regards
Paul

PS: If you buy anything at the top of the range it will be wet as well as cold!

[dazzler]

Thanks mate. Maybe I need to listen the little pig that built with bricks

[markharrison]

Toowoomba is not known as the Fridge on the Ridge for nothing!

It's a beautiful place; but dress warmly!

[Bushmiller]

Toowoomba is not known as the Fridge on the Ridge for nothing!

It's a beautiful place; but dress warmly!

And if anybody ever goes to the Bunya Mountains (one of my favourite bush destinations) never go without a backup of warm sweaters and/or coats, even in summer: I have made this mistake!

Regards
Paul

[old1955]

Totally agree Paul.

Ross