Attic Insulation !!

[bigredhead]

Hey everyone !!

After receiving last months power bill

I took advantage of Home Depot's one year no payment no interest deal and got me 15 bags of R-20 pink itch panther.

They are 6 inches thick per strip, i plan to run 2 layers thick, one in each direction. The house is 50 + years old and back then heat had to be cheap cuz the attic has about 1 inch of paper back yellow insulation in it right now !!! lol.......

Question is this:

I have walk thru crawl spaces along both sides of the roof, so i only have access to half the roof thru the attic.. as the crawl spaces have plywood nailed to the rafters and removing this is not an option.

Anything i should know ? tricks .. ? tips ? .. is 12 inches thick enough ?

Ohhhhh.. i'm already scratching.. i hate that stinkin stuff..

[Tap]

Well im no carpenter but i just finished helping my uncle insulate his new garage which has a room upstairs

I imagine that only 6inches would be plenty but i guess 12 is better
then again doesnt home depot allow you to return any unused portions?

Also if i understood what you said right then you have no access to part of the attic
if this is the case you could use the Spray insulation right?

[Trikeaholic]

buy a coal stove. I went from $5000 a year for fuel oil to $1000 in oil and $1000 in coal.
stove cost $2000
made money in one winter!

[bigredhead]

I"m heating forced air electric right now.

The house was once heated with wood, as the old wood stove/oven/cook top is still in the basement.. and then went to oil. removed 2 full sized and one half size tank from the basement with 15 year old oil in them.. that was fun !!!!.

I hate dirty heat.. wood heat is comfortable and i love the smell. but it's messy and alot of work, plus since i'm in the city, getting a truck load ( 1 cord sp ? ) is about 200 $ if you know the right people.. 150 sometimes.. but no cheaper.

[Bigred200]

rent the machine and blow in celulose its easy and cheaper then fiberglass and doesnt itch....lol.... home depot rents the machines out.

[bigredhead]

Already bought the pink stuff.. it's in the garage.. all 15 bags of it.. too late.

I prefer the pink to the blown in stuff... have you ever had to get into an attic with blown in insulation before ? .. i have.. what a mess.

[mike from long island]

i am not 100% sure how your attic is. what is the plywoods purpose? if you are unable to remove it then blown in insulation is the only answer. you only need about a 3 inch hole to blow it in. it is difficult to picture your attic. can you do sections at a time? maybe remove some plywood instead of it all. then replace it as you go? mike

[85 250sx]

why is taking off the ply wood not at option? i have never built or seen a house with plywood in the attic. you could take the ply would off and nail some 2x4's along the trusses or rafters to to help suport them if thats what your worried about. or you could cut holes in the plywood and use spray in insulation but you already said thats not an option either. so i guess withe out any of those two options you dont realy have any.

[deathman53]

I absolutley hate insulation, I'm a electrician, just thinking about that pink stuff makes me itch, the blown stuff is even worse, it gets everywhere!!!!!! When you go into the attic, you end up tracking it all over the house. Have you guys ever seen 80 yr old blown insultion, it itches, it has small schards of glass that can really hurt and it also probably contains asbestos.

[holmstrom]

Hey everyone !!

After receiving last months power bill

I took advantage of Home Depot's one year no payment no interest deal and got me 15 bags of R-20 pink itch panther.

.

if you double layer your insulation like you want that would be r-40. r value is detirmened by thickness. You take 2 pcs of r-20 and stack it you have r-40. If you use the blown insulation, 8 inches deep is r-30. Most blown insulation is made up of recycled paper so it wont be itchy. If you purchase enough bags, lowes lets you rent the machine for free.

[bigredhead]

It's a little hard to explain, but the upstairs bedrooms each have a door to get into the crawl spaces.. they are the one's lined with plywood.. above this is the attic wich i have access to and am insulating with pink stuff.

The bedrooms have those partial 45 degree ceilings and those are the one's i canot access without totally tearing stuff out and making a mess of the drywall and ply..

Funny the electrician mentioned that.. next year i'm having the electrical done and this is why i did not go with blown in..

I plan to yank all the wire clips loose so that going into the attic may not be needed, the wires can just be pig tailed and fished out from the existing fixtures.

I'll get pictures.. hold on.

[bigredhead]

Here they are.

1st is the bedroom, you can see how the 2ft section of 45 degree ceiling is part of the roof line..

2nd is the crawlspace that meets up with the bedroom celing. but behind it.

3rd is what i'm dealing with in the attic itself.. check that 50 year old worthless insulation !! lol...

[darrel632]

To deal with picture 3 is easy, do your double R-20, make sure you have some air gap on the peak to floor junction for ventilation, every 3 joist is usually enough, 4 inch gap put poly down wrapping the joists if you don't already have poly between the drywall and joists.

Picture 2 starts an isue, is that a plywood floor as well? If it is you either
A) pull it and insulate or
B) drill 2 inch holes and blow in insulation or
C) the best option pull it,styrofoam and seal with canned foam put it back in.

Picture 1 insulate the 6 foot vertcal wall from the back side, poly against the drywall if its not done, then R-20 is enough

[Somekindofjerk]

As a basic rule of thumb...
1.Buy a good face masc, that old insulation is dusty
2.A good framing square and knife are a necessity
3.Knee pads are a must, otherwise your knees feel like they will collapse under you.
4.Make sure the paper side of the insullation faces the living space... otherwise youv done little to no good
5.12 in will do just fine for you, though from what i was reading 12-20 is the good range.
6.Pull the plywood off, just take your time with a cats paw or flatbar and remove it. Its worth your trouble in the lond run.

Most important, watch your back... Nails are sharp I found out the hard way doing mine

[bigredhead]

Well... it was one hell of a day .. phew...

I ended up having to remove the ceiling ply panels from picture number 2.. there was insulation in there but it was packed in tight and was all wet from condensation.

I put in eave vents on every single lenght and then R-20 behind this and then 6 mil plastic and then re-nail the plywood over top the plastic.

The eaves themselves were packed tight with that paperback stuff. a 4 ft piece in a 1 ft opening.. all soaked, the eave is not vented at all.. i'm going to remove the sofets ( spelling ? ) once winter is over as they would crack right now .. it's too cold for the plastic sofet.

I have 3m asbestos masks with the pink filters, thank god.. it's a moldy mess up there. before the roof got done 5 years ago, the attic was getting ALOT of water and things got bad up there.. i'm bagging anything green and might spray it lightly with bleach before i load it up with new pink stuff...

thanks for the tips guys.. confirms my doubts as i go.

Knee pads tomorrow for sure.. my knees are killing me right now.. youch.