Insulated The Attic

[Sarnia Saver]

After clicking the random article feature on MMM.  I came across the attic insulation article and it got me thinking about my own attic.  It was only at R-20 and I live in Ontario, Canada.  It was time to increase the R value to the recommended R60.  I waited until Lowe's had a sale, on Canadian made, sustainable CertainTEED insulation, with 15% off.  However instead of just buying the R40 I noticed the R-20 was 35% cheaper even after considering it would have to be double up!  All told I spent 490$ 408$, a boatload of sweat equity (the builder didn't bother with duravents, what a pain in the assholebutt).  But it should be a few short years before I get the full return on this investment.  As a sidenote I noticed that the 2x3 hatch in my upstairs hallway had 0 insulation on it at all.  In the attic there was some discarded foamboard which I glued together to create an insulated hatch.

[Roots&Wings]

Very nicely done! Great job on the creative attic hatch cover too...I've seen those for like $80+ on their own.

Insulation and air sealing on my to do list...the space is pretty tight and I'm not looking forward to maneuvering around and trying to balance on the joists!

[TheInsuranceMan]

We did our attic insulation last year - blown in cellulose that we did ourselves.  We had one layer of insulation batts, and that was it.  Took a couple hours, but we ended up adding 10-12" of additional insulation.  Our LP bill drastically was reduced last winter.  Dirty job, but worth it.

[zephyr911]

Hell yeah!
One of my biz partners and I crawled into an almost totally uninsulated attic space above one of our rentals in June and added about a foot of fiberglass. We had to take turns just to avoid passing out, and I'm pretty sure I lost at least a gallon of sweat. High fives were had all around, and that cold beer afterward was the best I've ever had!

[Le Poisson]

I'm putting a roof on our place right now. We have maybe 4" of insulation up there. Maybe. This is going to be in the works for me as well, and I'm so not looking forward to it. Congrats on gettin gyours done. Any tips for minimizing the mess/work?

[zephyr911]

The MMM entry on the subject pretty much tells you all you need to know.

[ChicagoGirl]

We just did our attic last year, we went from an R-18 to an R-60 and we are in Chicago.  The better-half put the insulation in the attic begrudgingly but it only took him 2 hours and the insulation was on sale with a rebate...best $150 spent ever! We saw immediate returns in our gas bill.  My neighbor had her same size attic done 'professionally' for $1100!!  Sometimes sweat-equity pays off.

[chaskavitch]

This was my birthday present from my parents last year - coming up to help blow more insulation into our attic :)  We got it super on sale, plus we get 5% off with our Lowe's credit card, so it was way cheaper than I've ever seen it before.  DH wanted to hire someone to do it (he was afraid that we'd mess it up since neither of us has ever done it before), but our house footprint is only about 800 sq ft, so I vetoed it :)

[MrSal]

How much are you paying for your cellulose or fiberglass batts?

My local Lowes sells the cellulle at 13 dollars a bag... is this reasonable? I am thinking of insulating mine this fall in preparation for winter...

[Sarnia Saver]

I'm putting a roof on our place right now. We have maybe 4" of insulation up there. Maybe. This is going to be in the works for me as well, and I'm so not looking forward to it. Congrats on gettin gyours done. Any tips for minimizing the mess/work?

 
Use high quality particle respirator.
Borrow/buy an LED worklight, I started with inadequate lighting.
Borrow/buy kneepads, a few hours crawling around joists without them punished my knees. 
If you have a nice heavy leather hat, it will keep the nails from scratching your brain.

How much are you paying for your cellulose or fiberglass batts?

My local Lowes sells the cellulle at 13 dollars a bag... is this reasonable? I am thinking of insulating mine this fall in preparation for winter...

Lowe's had R20 (6") on sale for $16.50/49ft2.  Regular 30.49 for the same bag (All prices CDN$)
I decided to go with batts as we are planning to renovate rooms upstairs.  Batts can be moved and replaced.  Once you blow in insulation you might as well seal the hatch.

[zephyr911]

How much are you paying for your cellulose or fiberglass batts?

My local Lowes sells the cellulle at 13 dollars a bag... is this reasonable? I am thinking of insulating mine this fall in preparation for winter...

Get the best price you can locally, but do it regardless. The ROI is immense even if you overpay a little. And fall is the perfect time to get up in your attic.
I had to do one in June because the summer heat hit one of our new rentals and the ceiling was running over 80 degrees... nearly passed out in the Tyvek suit and had to have my partner relieve me. Fall should be nice and comfy up there.
I plan on adding some to the thin spots in my own house right before it starts to get cold - maybe we'll delay our first heating day by a couple weeks.