To insulate, or use shut off valve?

[Casualfc]

I am in the Northeast and have a garage converted into an apartment that I use occasionally as an office. There's no HVAC, just electric baseboards. There's a full bath. Recently I had a pipe burst and shoot water through a few walls. This was quickly fixed. As I removed the drywall, I followed the supply lines around the wall. Now I'm on hold. I don't intend on ripping all the walls out. My original plan was to use rubber insulation and blanket insulation in the walls for all the supply lines I can get to. Now I'm considering putting in shutoffs on the cold and hot lines where they come into the shower. Before that on the line are a sink and toilet which I can shut off at their own valves.
My question is- should I 1) bother with shutoff valves even through it would only take care of the shower or 2) just insulate pipes and walls or 3) install shutoffs and do the insulation anyway?
Thanks in advance. I've attached a photo of the closet where this is being done, in case it helps.

 

[Dj2]

"should I 1) bother with shutoff valves even through it would only take care of the shower "

It can't hurt, but where can you put the valves so they are accessible once you finish the wall?
More and more new rough ins are now equipped with internal shut off screws, very easy to operate when you remove the faucet cover plate. If you work on the shower faucet you don't need to turn off the main for the entire house.
In your case, I can't really see in the picture if you have them. Can you take a close up picture of the rough in?


"2) just insulate pipes and walls"

I think you should living in the Northeast. Check your local code for specifics.


The answer to #3 is also YES.
Make sure everything is dry and there are no leaks anywhere before you do that.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Cacher_Chick]

The walls must be insulated properly, with the supply piping on the interior side of the insulation.

 

[Michael Young]

I am in the Northeast and have a garage converted into an apartment that I use occasionally as an office. There's no HVAC, just electric baseboards. There's a full bath. Recently I had a pipe burst and shoot water through a few walls. This was quickly fixed. As I removed the drywall, I followed the supply lines around the wall. Now I'm on hold. I don't intend on ripping all the walls out. My original plan was to use rubber insulation and blanket insulation in the walls for all the supply lines I can get to. Now I'm considering putting in shutoffs on the cold and hot lines where they come into the shower. Before that on the line are a sink and toilet which I can shut off at their own valves.
My question is- should I 1) bother with shutoff valves even through it would only take care of the shower or 2) just insulate pipes and walls or 3) install shutoffs and do the insulation anyway?
Thanks in advance. I've attached a photo of the closet where this is being done, in case it helps.

Exterior walls, use spray-in foam. You can buy DIY kits online (don't bother with GREAT STUFF foam; the volume just isn't there). The foam will protect your pipes from freezing again. I have a back bathroom that we don't use. I set a small $20 heater back there and set the temp on 40-degrees. You may want to consider doing BOTH. If there's room inside the walls to install thick-wall pipe insulation, that will help. In that corner where you can't get to the elbow; DEFINITELY get some great stuff foam and make sure that corner is insulated. That would be a SUCK place to get a leak. http://www.homeservicestriad.com/

 

[Dana]

If it's on an exterior wall, insulate the pipes with R3 pipe insultion, but on the walls put the insulation only on the exterior side of the plumbing, where the plumbing is in the wall, so there is no more than the pipe insulation between the pipe and the conditioned interior.

Closed cell spray foam is one of the least "green" insulation products in common use, primarily due to the HFC blowing agents used, but also due to the high amount of polymer/R, XPS (blue, pink, green board) is just as damaging. Slip in some foil faced polyisocyanurate of the apprpriate thickness behind the plumbing, then insulated the wall cavity above & below the plumbing with high density batts (R15 or R23 rock wool preferred, R15 or R21HD fiberglass is fine.)

A full cavity fill of R6/inch closed cell polyurethane adds less than R1 "whole wall" performance to a 2x4 wall over what it would be with R13 batts or half-pound open cell foam (the foam in the prior post's picture), less than R2 for a 2x6 walls, all due to the fact that the R1.2/inch wood passes through the insulation layers. The reason to use high density batts (rather than R13s) is that there will be a known gap in the insulation between the plumbing and the wallboard. HD fiberglass and rock wool are far more air-retardent than mid-density or low density batts, which will limit the derating from any air leakage into the cavities.

Before insulating the walls, put a bead of polyurethane caulk where the framing meets the exterior sheathing, the full perimeter of the stud bay to minimize outdoor air infiltraion. Before putting up the wallboard put a bead of caulk between the seams of the top plates, and where the bottom plate meets the subfloor.

When doing the cut'n'cobbled polyiso, cut it 3/8" to 1/2" narrower than the available width between studs to make it easy to get in, and use can-foam to fill in at the edges.