blown in attic insulation

[sirkdev]

So thinking about upgrading my attic insulation, thoughts? Has anyone done it noticed any difference? I'm averaging about 8-10" in my roof right now. Doing it yourself seems reasonable but wondering if worth the hassle? I'm going to be close to 2500 sq ft between house and garage.

 

[SHREK1]

Ya a good top up will help, years ago i did my garage myself as it was way out of town, was not a big deal, did my recent shop at home and hired it out, thats the way i would recommend, do a shop around to find someone good to go. Will try to dig up who i used and pass it along

 

[ABMax24]

Do it, it makes a pretty big difference in heat loss.

But price check renting the blower vs hiring it out. As teens we did my parents house, rented a blower and did it ourselves, blew in enough to meet R60. It's a pretty dirty job and hard on the body crawling around the rafters all day, and then someone is needed on the ground to keep the blower fed.

We bought a new house but discovered our insulation wasn't up to the R40 required by code, when the insulator came to do it I paid to go from R40 to R50 in the house attic and from R20 to R40 in the house. Cost me $300 since he was already here, I couldn't have rented the blower and bought the insulation for that price.

The big thing is to ensure the insulation doesn't touch the roof sheeting, its needs airflow under the sheeting. Lots of times there are vents, or dams that need to be installed to allow airflow, prevent the insulation from touching the sheeting, and to prevent the insulation from blowing out the end of the rafters.

 

[Bury Me With My Toys]

I've done it to two houses in the past, couldn't really tell any difference between before and after.
What made a huge difference was ugrading the windows to triple pane, insulating around them well during the install, and new weather stripping around the doors. Although illegal I'm sure, I also blocked the cold air intake pipe for the furnace halfway off, so it couldn't let in as much cold air, just enough for the furnaces needs. Doesn't make sense to me having a big cold air inlet, when you are trying to heat the place.

 

[Legend14]

2840552[/URL]]I've done it to two houses in the past, couldn't really tell any difference between before and after.
What made a huge difference was ugrading the windows to triple pane, insulating around them well during the install, and new weather stripping around the doors. Although illegal I'm sure, I also blocked the cold air intake pipe for the furnace halfway off, so it couldn't let in as much cold air, just enough for the furnaces needs. Doesn't make sense to me having a big cold air inlet, when you are trying to heat the place.

I do the same with the cold air inlet, doesn’t make any sense to blast the furnace with-30 air.

 

[Trashy]

In any house or garage, your 2 biggest heat losses are your Windows/doors and attic. All 3 of the house I owned, the first thing I did was upgrade the attic to R70 and make sure I had proper roof ventilation.
I never did replace any windows, but on the ones that weren't used all year and including the ones in the winter. I would use that window film and it does work great.
Another good way to help save, is good quality blinds. As they keep the heat out in the summer and the heat in, in the winter

If you have 100-400 sq ft to top up, those rental machines do work good.
Other than that, use a attic insulation company to come in and do the work, with warranty.

 

[rknight111]

I don't know all the details here to provide you the best advise based of my knowledge of this. What is the age of the house and what is the current insulation in the attic? If its an older house with wood shavings your better off having the shavings sucked out and replaced with cellulose fibre or shredded fiberglass. If there is vermiculite up there you have more of a problem as typically in the western provinces, this will contain asbestos. Most vermiculite came from the Libby Montana mine which is known to be contaminated with asbestos. The newer insulation will provide better R value than wood shavings. And as others mentioned you will find the companies come out with a large truck that is prepped for this, they spray evenly without causing future issues. They know not to block the cross ventilation of the attic by over filling areas.

 

[X-it]

Ceiling R12 to R 50 ...11%
Basement walls R2 to R20...25%
windows R1.9 to R4.5...4%
Cracks and holes reduction of leakage by 50%....6% on heating.
Furnace low to high efficency ..32%
water heater low to high...3%
doors from r3 to r6....1%

 

[sirkdev]

The house is a 1992 log home 1400 sq ft pink fibreglass batt insulation. 6-8" thick roof insulation. So the more reading I do likely the best money spent is a negative pressure test and figure out air leakage. My HVAC buddy says new furnaces are not worth it, just looking at ways of getting more efficient before the next round of carbon taxes... Thanks for suggestions

I don't know all the details here to provide you the best advise based of my knowledge of this. What is the age of the house and what is the current insulation in the attic? If its an older house with wood shavings your better off having the shavings sucked out and replaced with cellulose fibre or shredded fiberglass. If there is vermiculite up there you have more of a problem as typically in the western provinces, this will contain asbestos. Most vermiculite came from the Libby Montana mine which is known to be contaminated with asbestos. The newer insulation will provide better R value than wood shavings. And as others mentioned you will find the companies come out with a large truck that is prepped for this, they spray evenly without causing future issues. They know not to block the cross ventilation of the attic by over filling areas.

 

[X-it]

If you could strap the inside walls, spray foam between the strapping, then drywall it would be huge 25-40% savings. But the work load would be a fair bit, getting it all straight (laser level), moving the wiring and make the windows and doors work and fit.

 

[Trashy]

Vacuum out the attic, remove all batts, remove vapour barrior, box out all electrical boxes and bath fans with 1/2" drywall, spray R20-2lbs closed cell spray foam directly to the bare drywall and trusses, R40 loose fill, (don't do cellulose) and Bob's your uncle

 

[X-it]

This is for my house i paid to have this done, i assume they know what they are doing and it is accurate

 

[Beer Slayer]

. So the more reading I do likely the best money spent is a negative pressure test and figure out air leakage. ... just looking at ways of getting more efficient before the next round of carbon taxes... Thanks for suggestions

This is what I did when the Government [Pro & Fed] offered a money back program for up grading efficiency years ago. My house was built in '52, paper vapor barrier, unfinished basement, single pane windows, etc. I followed the guy around the house with pen and paper/camera to make notes of all the leaks in the house...couldn't believe how many air leaks. Instead of drilling holes through walls they smashed 'em with chisel and hammer. Oil was cheap back then.
Over the past twenty eight years I've redone the whole house, cut my heating bill by fifty percent. I've had my heat on twice this month for an hour each time just to take the chill out [I'm a lot further south than a lot of you]. Stopping the air flow and keeping the heat in is key. Basement was the worst, did all the outside walls in two inch Styrofoam SM then built a 2x4 wall in front of that and filled with Roxul. This also works very well keeping the cool air in summer.

 

[Pedaling pete]

Spray foam is where its at.

 

[Trashy]

Agreed..... Bsmt rim joist, joist ends, cantilevers and where the foundation framing sits on the foundation plate, Are all major contributers to heat loss as well. This is why 90% of the new home builders will 2lbs these bsmt areas.
I stand corrected, as there are more than 2 major heat loss areas in a house. Thanks, Beer Slayer

 

[rknight111]

This is for my house i paid to have this done, i assume they know what they are doing and it is accurateView attachment 229406

Even better technology and knowledge out there to conduct these inspections since 2005. Get one done now you’ll be suprised at how things have changed.

 

[Bogger]

If you could strap the inside walls, spray foam between the strapping, then drywall it would be huge 25-40% savings. But the work load would be a fair bit, getting it all straight (laser level), moving the wiring and make the windows and doors work and fit.

Good way to ruin a perfectly good log home... I guess you could strap, insulate and use 1/4 rounds....

 

[X-it]

Even better technology and knowledge out there to conduct these inspections since 2005. Get one done now you’ll be suprised at how things have changed.

Most people are surprised that basement can lose that much heat, they think just adding insulation in the ceiling is the best thing to do. When really changing your furnace would be a cheaper route for saving dollars. It may be from 2005 but it is still accurate on where the savings lay. A log house heat loss and drafts in the walls are substantial.

 

[rknight111]

We offer these services that why I commented and yes basements can account for up to 20% of a homes heat loss, see attached government document.
https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-effi...ping-heat-chapter-6-basement-insulation/15639

 

[sirkdev]

Thanks for the comments all. I will look into getting an energy assessment and see where it leads..