Just a quick thought... that would make things pretty easy... how about using wiremold for your wiring?

http://www.wiremold.com/www/consumer/products/nonmetallic_raceway/index.asp

Given that it's brick.. and if the room as the proper heating and cooling is there any chance that you might not need the insulation on the lower walls? Since I am pretty sure that you are really going to need 2x4 firring to get proper hold on those walls.

Maddie

Here is a link that might be useful: wiremold

Thanks, that wiring system has been in the back of my mind but I was thinking it was more unsightly than it is. It could work!

As for insulating the brick, we had a heating guy look at it once and he said it should definitely be insulated. Brick doesn't have a very high R-value. Plus, the room is all windows on 3 sides and even the best windows will never have a really high R-value so we have to do whatever we can elsewhere to make up for that. (We thought about walling some of them over but we like the views...)

If you use 2 inch foam (r10) which burns, you are supposed to protect it with drywall or something to slow the burn. You need furring with drywall and with those rough finish walls anyhow.

If its temporary why not more or less prefab yourself portable stud walls all around with a wrap around windowsill to fit/finish the top. Then you can wire and insulate how ever you like - batts maybe with radiant barrier for your attempt at a vapor shield .. close it up with wood siding so its disposable after the condensation gets it.

Our last house was built of hollow clay tile. All the exterior walls were made of the clay tile with stucco on the outside and plaster on the inside. What wiring was present in 1926 was what was present when we moved in, with a few extra lines that had been brought through the floor from the basement.

Anyway, it was time to redo the kitchen. Have you ever tried to add wiring to -- let alone hang cabinets from -- hollow clay tile? It's not something that works well. So DH and I built a wall of 2x4s flush against the exterior wall. This gave us room to run new wires, wood to hang cabinets on, and something to affix drywall to. We did have to build out the window casings, but I liked the new, deeper sills/stools.

mikie, as I said, we will be using the space as a family room eventually and the walls need to be finished for that. We have to get it done soon since our daughter will be moving back with us. We plan to drywall over the foam insulation.

What I was wondering about was whether furring strips would be adequate or would we have to stud out the wall, which would lower the R-value since wood has a lower R-value than the foam insualtion and studs would make up a greater mass of the wall than furring strips. But furring strips might not be enough to anchor electrical boxes to.

Anyway...hubby and I talked about it last night after he looked at the stuff I'd found on the internet. I think what we're going to do is cover the wall with foam boards first, then make a wall of 2x2's---more substantial than furring strips but not as much mass as 2x4's. We will anchor that at top and bottom to the brick wall, which is only 46" high or so. Then add more foam boards between the 2x2's and drywall it.

And stick in a few electrical boxes. He wants them done the regular way, which is fine with me, though I will keep the plugmold stuff in mind for future applications.

Make sure the 2x2s give you enough depth for the boxes -- the shallow boxes should work, but triple check before you start work.

I wonder if you could keep the brick on the inside, since it would be tons of thermal mass, and would really help even out day/night temp variations in a room that's essentially "all windows", and put the insulation on the outside, in the form of foam, and simply stucco over that. That technique I have heard called "out-sulation". It also has the benefit (if the foam is carried to the frost line) of insulating the foundation wall and the slab (if it has a slab; can't really tell).
Casey

jakabedy, thanks--will be sure to get boxes that will fit.

sombreuil, we are doing this part of the project ourselves and insulating and drywalling the interior is within our capabilities; stuccoing isn't! Plus the exterior brick wall matches the rest of the outside of the house, so we don't want to mess with it.