Author Topic: WWYD re: attic insulation  (Read 1505 times)

Lanthiriel

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WWYD re: attic insulation
« on: September 13, 2017, 06:03:25 PM »
I bought an old barn that was converted to a house in 1993. Upstairs is a poorly installed window and exterior french doors causing significant heating/cooling issues, and my inspector said I needed quite a bit more insulation in the attic. I finally had someone come look at the house, and he gave me a pretty reasonable quote (I have priced out similar work in a different state and this was on par with what I would expect giving the COL difference) for the window and door replacements. So far so good.

For our attic, he pointed out that there is a can light that was installed above the shower that just opens right up into the attic with no insulation (???) and that there is insulation in my interior walls, but they also have dead space that opens right up into the attic with no seal. We also have very old fiberglass insulation of about R20 up there that is dirty on the top from the re-roof job the previous owner did in 2009 and dirty from the bottom from sucking air out of my house through the walls. The ventilation is all good and there's no mold or anything like that to worry about. I'm mainly worried about keeping the heat in. I don't have a central heating system (remember, converted barn), so I'm relying on a downstairs wood stove to push hot air up, and I have a couple of electric baseboard heaters if I need them.

The company quoted me $3400 to redo attic insulation with cellulose up to R60 and seal up all the places I'm leaking hot/cold air into my house. I'm REALLY hoping to spend the rest of my working years in this house (~15 years), so it seems like it would pay off over time. But I also said that about my last house that I was forced out of after 2 years when we had to make 2500-mile move for job reasons.

Decisions decisions. Thoughts, feelings, anecdotes from anyone?

monarda

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Re: WWYD re: attic insulation
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2017, 09:38:44 PM »
$3400 seems very reasonable for air seal plus cellulose. How many square feet?

Get some other bids to compare.

Papa bear

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Re: WWYD re: attic insulation
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2017, 09:57:11 PM »
Blowing in insulation is one really really easy project.  I've done a few myself, and helped out some neighbors do theirs. They have 0 DIY experience and we got it done no problem. Under $300 total.

Replacing a window? Materials around 200. Door? Depends how fancy you get, but you could get around 600.

Do the entire thing yourself for 1100.


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Lanthiriel

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Re: WWYD re: attic insulation
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2017, 08:59:55 AM »
Blowing in insulation is one really really easy project.  I've done a few myself, and helped out some neighbors do theirs. They have 0 DIY experience and we got it done no problem. Under $300 total.

Replacing a window? Materials around 200. Door? Depends how fancy you get, but you could get around 600.

Do the entire thing yourself for 1100.


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I'm willing to spend the money to make sure the door and window installation are air/water tight. That's not a project I'm willing to take on myself. But I do think I could do the attic. I do want to pull out all the old fiberglass insulation, seal, and blow in the cellulose. I should probably price out materials and see how close their price comes.

zephyr911

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Re: WWYD re: attic insulation
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2017, 10:18:14 AM »
My $.02, I'd hire out the sealing, doors and windows, but DIY the blow-in. It's not fun work but it's incredibly easy.

GuitarStv

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Re: WWYD re: attic insulation
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2017, 10:32:13 AM »
Blowing in insulation is one really really easy project.  I've done a few myself, and helped out some neighbors do theirs. They have 0 DIY experience and we got it done no problem. Under $300 total.

Replacing a window? Materials around 200. Door? Depends how fancy you get, but you could get around 600.

Do the entire thing yourself for 1100.


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I'm willing to spend the money to make sure the door and window installation are air/water tight. That's not a project I'm willing to take on myself. But I do think I could do the attic. I do want to pull out all the old fiberglass insulation, seal, and blow in the cellulose. I should probably price out materials and see how close their price comes.

I think you would be surprised at how simple it is to make windows and doors airtight.  Between doing that and blowing in insulation I'd prefer the former . . . but would do both myself in your place.