Sills and insulation

I am writing in regard to a query published in the Dec. 21 issue of the Monitor. Someone from Livingston, Texas, inquired about bottom sills and insulation.

Houses built in this locality (we are not too far from Livingston) were built in this manner before concrete slabs and air conditioning.

Our house was even cooler as it was built to catch the bay breezes and was not to be lived in during the winter. We removed the inside walls, added 2x4x between the studs at the bottom, stapled tarpaper to the outside wall (from the inside), added six-inch insulation batts, and replaced the inner walls. This stopped only about half the flow of air. The other half was stopped by replacing woodframe windows with aluminum-framed windows. We are very pleased with the results.

In past years we had caulked somewhat on the outside, as your reader mentions , but this did not help much.

We did not use blown-in insulation, which you mention, because it makes future electrical improvements within the walls unfeasible. Mrs. V. M. Klopp Seabrook, Texas