Wall spray foam insulation in Strathmore runs into something an inland sheltered town does not have: on an open lot the four walls of a house are not doing the same job, and one of them is doing considerably more than the others.
One elevation is a different wall from the other three
On an exposed site the windward face takes sustained pressure that the other three do not. That drives air into every gap in it, moves moisture into the assembly, and makes the rooms behind it consistently the ones people complain about. The practical consequence is that whole-house wall work is rarely the right purchase here, and treating one elevation properly frequently is. It is a much smaller number and it addresses the actual complaint rather than averaging it across a building.
Where a wall of this era actually gives it up
Even on the windward side, the field of the wall is generally not the problem. The paths are the top plate where the wall meets the ceiling, the box header over each window, the point where an interior wall runs into an exterior one, and the penetrations for services. Every one of those is an air route rather than a shortage of insulation, which is why filling a cavity that already has batt in it does nothing about them, and why an exposed site makes each of them worse than it would be elsewhere.
When the siding comes off, which is the moment
The one situation where a wall is unarguably worth doing properly is a re-side, and on an exposed lot that moment arrives sooner than it does in a sheltered town, because cladding on the windward face weathers faster. With the sheathing exposed the whole assembly is reachable, the junctions can be sealed continuously and the work costs a fraction of what it would as a project of its own. It is worth knowing about before the siding contractor is booked rather than after.
What to be sceptical of on a house this age
Drilling the wall and injecting into a cavity that already contains batt is the most common thing offered on these houses and it is close to the least useful. There is nowhere for the material to go, nothing gets sealed, and the holes and the making good are real cost for a patchy result. On a Strathmore house the same money spent on the ceiling plane, the rim joist and the windward elevation's junctions produces something the household can feel.
Wall Spray Foam Insulation Strathmore: Common Questions
Why is one side of the house always colder? That is the windward elevation, and treating that one wall is usually the right scope.
Can you drill and fill it? There is already batt in the cavity, so there is nowhere for anything to go and nothing gets sealed.
When is the wall genuinely worth doing? When the siding is coming off. On an exposed lot that comes round sooner than people expect.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Strathmore quote. More on Wall Spray Foam Insulation Alberta.