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We live in Miami, FL. Our house was built in 1948, out of concrete brick. The brick was never plastered over on the exterior. Inside the house, some rooms have plaster, some have exposed brick, and some have painted wood panels (presumably over plain brick). Someone along the way added an addition in two stages. We have both gabled (flat white tile) and flat roof, which was recently replaced completely due to several leaks.
Our addition was the last room that still had wallpaper. This past Friday, in removing the wallpaper in the addition, we found moldy drywall and plasterboard. This was not a surprise, as this was the location of some of the leaks in the roof. We hired someone to come in and replace the drywall. So far they have removed a considerable amount of the drywall, including the wall that used to be an exterior wall of the house.
That wall apparently had no insulation between the brick and the plasterboard.
Another wall in the addition seems to only have had a sheet of plastic (vapor barrier?) between the concrete block and the drywall.
They are coming back tomorrow to hang new drywall, and I just want to make sure they put in the correct insulation. It looks, based on what they removed, that there wasn't insulation at all.
What should we look for and/or ask for?
Here's a picture:
Furthermore, another exterior wall which used to have two windows was used to build two bookcase type cubby holes. They removed part of the drywall along this wall as well. Again, there was only a thin piece of plastic behind the drywall. When you look inside the plastic, there's no insulation back there at all! You can see the brick that used to be the outside of the house. This doesn't seem right! Help??
Another shot of the two areas built on exterior walls: