advertisement
Forums

The Forum is sponsored by 
 

AAPL stock: Click Here

You are currently viewing the Tips and Deals forum
Insulation is Being Installed
Posted by: Stavs
Date: February 28, 2006 08:04AM
The contractor that I bought my house (built in 1925, remodeled top to bottom in 2003) from installed my installation wrong and didnt put enough in. I have an R7 in my attic, and the batts are laid over the joists vs. being between them. They also didnt insulate between the garage/basement level and the main living area. So, my insulation guys are tearing out the stuff in the attic (crawlspace), putting in new venting, and blowing in insulation to give it an R30 value. They are also going to cut holes in the garage and basement ceiling and blow in between the joists down there. Winter sucks because we freeze, and summer sucks because my upstairs just gets so hot! Hopefully this will improve things for us. Worst case scenario I'll be able to walk on the kitchen floor barefoot now plus I get my tax credit.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Insulation is Being Installed
Posted by: ajakeski
Date: February 28, 2006 09:38AM
check to see tat they put in the plastic baffles above the eve vents. These keep the insulation where the roof and attic joists meet from blocking the vents.




I'm not a bad guy! I work hard, and I love my kids. So why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to Hell? -Homer.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Insulation is Being Installed
Posted by: Stavs
Date: February 28, 2006 09:52AM
They are doing that. I had these guys thoroghly checked out. I called around to some of their customers and spoke to them. I checked BBB and no complaints. I'm also a member of the Chamber of Commerce that they are part of and I know the owner (on a limited basis). References checked out and their guys are very professional and polite. Minor nuisance is I have to go finsih a few holes in the garage/basement (they patch them), and write the check, but other than that I'm pretty psyched. The way they had the insulation in the attic was like having nothing at all.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Insulation is Being Installed
Posted by: davester
Date: February 28, 2006 10:02AM
Sounds like you're doing the right things. With a house that old, some of the interior walls may be open to the attic. This is especially true if there are any soffits in any of the doorways. These need to be plugged up before the insulation goes in. It might be good to ask about whether they checked this.

Also, how is your weatherstripping and fireplace damper? In most houses the majority of heat lost is through air leaks around doors, windows and through exhaust fans/fireplaces, etc, rather than through the walls, floors and ceilings.



"Man is a little germ that lives on an unimportant rock ball that revolves about a small star at the outskirts of an ordinary galaxy. ... I am absolutely amazed to discover myself on this rock ball rotating around a spherical fire. It's a very odd situation. And the more I look at things I cannot get rid of the feeling that existence is quite weird. -- Alan Watts
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Insulation is Being Installed
Posted by: Stavs
Date: February 28, 2006 10:32AM
The weatherstripping is all brand new and in great shape with the exception of one door which is an easy fix. I dont have a fireplace, so no loss there-I might add a propane one. The walls are all insulated (thank God!) I dont have any soffits over doorways, so I should be good there. They just finished the floor downstairs and are getting ready to move upstairs. Maybe now those 300 gallons of propane will last a bit longer.

I was actually considering having an energy audit done. Anyone know how much they cost? My local utils dont provide a free service, they point you to a website.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2006 10:33AM by Stavs.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Insulation is Being Installed
Posted by: davester
Date: February 28, 2006 10:59AM
I've had an energy audit done by the utility in the past and it wasn't worth a whole lot. They caught the obvious things but didn't have a real eye to heat flow issues that were not so obvious. My brother-in-law is a commercial HVAC consultant so he did a quantitative heat loss calculation for part of our house that was a real eye-opener. I found out that the exposed edges of the downstairs slab were one of the main reasons it was freezing down there. Try to find an energy efficiency professional that really understands heat loss...the kind that will do a blower door test of your house (they put a big fan in the front door and pressurize the house to figure out where the air leaks are) along with quantitative calculations. The cost of the audit will probably pay for itself pretty quickly in energy savings.



"Man is a little germ that lives on an unimportant rock ball that revolves about a small star at the outskirts of an ordinary galaxy. ... I am absolutely amazed to discover myself on this rock ball rotating around a spherical fire. It's a very odd situation. And the more I look at things I cannot get rid of the feeling that existence is quite weird. -- Alan Watts
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Insulation is Being Installed
Posted by: Racer X
Date: February 28, 2006 02:10PM
as for excessive heat in the summer, have you looked into a thermostat-controlled attic fan? It will evacuate all the hot air, so it doesn't radiate down, or cause your ceiling and walls to be huge heat sinks for the hot air upstairs.

Most attic vents have far too small surface area to do any good. Combine that with black shingles, and you have created an oven.

My weekly drinking buddy is an aerospace thermal engineer. I learn a lot when we chat at the bar about house stuff. I'm doing that to my house this spring, and adding a lot more insulation in the attic at the same time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2006 02:13PM by Racer X.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Insulation is Being Installed
Posted by: davester
Date: February 28, 2006 02:40PM
The other thing that really helps the attic in summer is to have radiant barrier material (aluminum foil or aluminum coated mylar) stapled to the underside of the rafters. Very inexpensive and very effective(though not as effective as having a heat-reflective roof).



"Man is a little germ that lives on an unimportant rock ball that revolves about a small star at the outskirts of an ordinary galaxy. ... I am absolutely amazed to discover myself on this rock ball rotating around a spherical fire. It's a very odd situation. And the more I look at things I cannot get rid of the feeling that existence is quite weird. -- Alan Watts
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Insulation is Being Installed
Posted by: Stavs
Date: February 28, 2006 06:28PM
Thanks for the tips guys. I'm going to have to look into those solutions. The insulation is already making a huge difference.

Stavs
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Insulation is Being Installed
Posted by: Racer X
Date: February 28, 2006 06:45PM
I have actually seen the fiberglass batting with a reflective barrier that overhangs the sides of the batting several inches on either side. You stable the batting edge to the rafters so the insulation sits between the rafters up above. If you already have some insulation on the floor of your attic, it is a great way to get a barrier and more insulation.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Insulation is Being Installed
Posted by: davester
Date: February 28, 2006 10:02PM
Racer X Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have actually seen the fiberglass batting with a
> reflective barrier that overhangs the sides of the
> batting several inches on either side. You stable
> the batting edge to the rafters so the insulation
> sits between the rafters up above. If you already
> have some insulation on the floor of your attic,
> it is a great way to get a barrier and more
> insulation.

This won't really work in a climate that gets hot in summer. The insulation would then keep the heat in the attic and make things miserable in the house upstairs all night unless there was a large amount of venting in the attic. However, if you had that much venting then the rafter insulation would be useless in the winter because it would be short circuited by the venting. Uninsulated foil radiant barrier material is the way to go. It's made specifically for the job and it's cheaper than buying foil backed insulation. Oh, and guess what...it doesn't itch or get into your lungs!



"Man is a little germ that lives on an unimportant rock ball that revolves about a small star at the outskirts of an ordinary galaxy. ... I am absolutely amazed to discover myself on this rock ball rotating around a spherical fire. It's a very odd situation. And the more I look at things I cannot get rid of the feeling that existence is quite weird. -- Alan Watts



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2006 10:04PM by davester.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

Online Users

Guests: 520
Record Number of Users: 186 on February 20, 2020
Record Number of Guests: 5122 on October 03, 2020