"Michael Coslo" wrote

Wow, Mike, I don't know of many houses anywhere which are being built
with other than 2x6 walls. Ceiling insulation is, of course, one of the
cheapest and easiest things to fix. You can always add more. It is
tougher to do much about wall insulation if the wall is already full of
the stuff.

It's the poor construction, not the specific size of the walls.

Right. Apparently, regardless how much insulation is installed between the
studs, if the house isn't very well sealed, that insulation's effectiveness
is going to be reduced. I asked a builder in NY what their typical R-value
is. He said it's not about R-value, but how well the house is sealed, inside
and out. If I do have a new house built when I move to 1-land, it'll have
expanding foam insulation to make sure the exterior shell is all
well-sealed. That'll be done after the coax and ladder-line feed throughs
are installed, of course. :-)

Howard N7SO