Architectural Designs

Insulation and wall sizes for a house?

Im taking high-school architecture, and we need to find out the proper wall size and insulation amount for the homes we are designing. I am lost on how much insulation I need. Im planning to "build" the house somewhere in the mid-northeast to the chicago area. In that sort of climate, how much insulation will I need? What size walls for exterior and interior? If you can help, dont hesitate to send an email, I really need some advice here. Note: I am going here because my teacher is a deadbeat. His idea of "teaching" is giving us a topic to research. Not once has he gotten up in front of the class and instructed. He refuses to answer even the simplest of questions. do NOT tell me to "ask my teacher"

Public Comments

1. I would research the Chicago building codes. They should be publicly accessible; they ARE public documents. Perhaps your teacher does not intend to leave you without assistance, but rather is motivating you to perform research on your own. After all, once you have left school, you had better know how to do that! Good luck with your project.
2. It is a total trade off. The more insulation you install, the cheaper it is to heat and cool the house. The more insulation you install, the more expensive it is. Based on a 5, 10, 20 , 30 year occupancy, the values all trade off so there is no correct answer. Ask those questions.
3. The technically correct answer is to balance heat loss with various insulated wall thicknesses against the installation costs for the wall, insulation and the heating system. Add in the savings in energy over a period of time to come up with a balance between costs and energy savings. In reality the practical answer is to look at standard building material sizes and use those to make a quick choice. The old standard was a 2 x 4 stud wall (really a 3-1/2" thick wall not counting exterior and interior finish). The next step up would be a 2 x 6 stud wall (really 5-1/2" thick wall) and this is in many places the current norm. The next stand stud size is a 2 x 8 thickness but that does not appear to be very common. When we built our current house, we got energy saving estimates from the local utility that compared various wall finishes and thicknesses with BTU's saved. I would bet there is similar information available from you local utility or on line.
4. Just a comment on your note: Straight out of wikipedia: Constructivist teaching is based on the constructivist learning theory, which holds that learning should build upon knowledge that a student already has, and that learning is more effective when a student is actively involved in the construction of knowledge, rather than when he/she is passively listening to a lecture.[1] Thus, the learners give meaning to the knowledge based on their personal experiences.