Author Topic: Did the DIY insulation thing  (Read 3610 times)

zephyr911

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Did the DIY insulation thing
« on: June 22, 2015, 11:17:56 AM »
My LLC owns a duplex that came with about 3" of shitty old compacted cellulose, and now that the summer heat has finally hit, one of the tenants was pretty unhappy (rightly so) with HVAC performance.

Best retail quote for the job was about $1400... one of my partners and I did it for $400, including the truck rental. 5 hours of work tops, works out to $100/hr for each of us.

Fuckin' A.

My place is next... it's nowhere near as bad, but we're going to top up to around 24" there. My goal is to cut power use by half this year.

forummm

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Re: Did the DIY insulation thing
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2015, 11:23:44 AM »
Cool! Literally! I'm a big fan of saving energy.

zephyr911

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Re: Did the DIY insulation thing
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2015, 01:11:14 PM »
After the first hour in that attic in a Tyvek suit, gloves, hood and mask, I thought I might die... but it was all worth it.
Next time we'll start earlier in the day.

forummm

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Re: Did the DIY insulation thing
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2015, 01:25:49 PM »
I thought from your photo that's how you normally dressed.

CmFtns

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Re: Did the DIY insulation thing
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2015, 01:32:30 PM »
I'm planning on buying a house soonish and it will probably be old so I've been reading up on doing this. Was wondering if you also plan on adding insulation to the walls or they already have adequate insulation. Walls seems like they would be a huge pain in the ass.

Patrick A

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Re: Did the DIY insulation thing
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2015, 09:01:56 AM »
That's awesome. 

Just bought a house and am interested in this as as well.  The house has wall, ceiling, and crawl space insulation under the floor.  Anyone have good links on how to go about doing attic insulation?  I would absolutely love to make my house require next to no energy for climate control. 

Drifterrider

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Re: Did the DIY insulation thing
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2015, 09:13:27 AM »
Lots of videos on You-tube about insulating.  It depends on if you are going to use "blown" or roll.

zephyr911

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Re: Did the DIY insulation thing
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2015, 10:18:42 AM »
That's awesome. 

Just bought a house and am interested in this as as well.  The house has wall, ceiling, and crawl space insulation under the floor.  Anyone have good links on how to go about doing attic insulation?  I would absolutely love to make my house require next to no energy for climate control.
Attic is shockingly easy. You may be wondering if MMM's article on it is oversimplified, but it's really that easy. The rental machine has the instructions on it, and it basically says what he wrote. Break the shit up, heave it in, and blow it with the hose.
We barely even bothered with signals. Phones would have been a waste. I climbed up, he stood below and I said "ready". Every couple of bags, he'd stop feeding and I'd come down for a break.
As far as walls, it's a little more complicated but I hear you can holesaw the drywall and blow directly into one section at a time. I would suspect it'd be easier if you also cut a small exhaust hole in each section and cover it with mesh so the air can go through. Expect overflow.

I thought from your photo that's how you normally dressed.
That pic was after a marathon of floor-scraping in the same property this spring... underneath the shitty carpet and piss-stained pad were up to 5 layers of vinyl tile, some with possible asbestos. I think I've done enough of that particular type of demo for at least a year... ugh.

bzzzt

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Re: Did the DIY insulation thing
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2015, 05:39:35 PM »
Attic is shockingly easy. You may be wondering if MMM's article on it is oversimplified, but it's really that easy. The rental machine has the instructions on it, and it basically says what he wrote. Break the shit up, heave it in, and blow it with the hose.
We barely even bothered with signals. Phones would have been a waste. I climbed up, he stood below and I said "ready". Every couple of bags, he'd stop feeding and I'd come down for a break.

Agreed*. I blew 66 bags of cellulose into my attic in mid-March. I ran the hose in the attic and my dad and brother fed. We took one break and had it all blown in 3 hours. Winter time is the perfect time to do attic work.

I'm an electrician and friends seem to wait until it gets hot to want ceiling fans. I don't run my own company, so I can afford to be picky. I only do them from Nov-Mar. The only thing worse than working in a dusty, fiberglass filled attic is doing it when it's 100-110* up there.

*Blowing the insulation is the easiest part. You need to determine if you need rafter baffles (let sheathing breathe, no mold), duct sealing, air gap sealing (eliminating chimney effect), re-routing electrical (not burying boxes), etc. and those are the hard part. I probably had 50 hours of prep work before I was ready. I tend to be a slave to "doing it once".
« Last Edit: June 23, 2015, 05:48:54 PM by bzzzt »