I am a bit of a luddite. Doing new things, especially complex things involving technology create a sense of resistance. Such was the notion of blowing in additional insulation into my attic. I knew my house was uncomfortably hot in the summer, I was typically shirtless indoors from June until late September. I could have just installed an AC, but I got my worst sinus infection ever from a Georgia hotel air conditioner that was home to some massively overgrown, spongy growth of fungus or mold. I had looked inside the hotel air conditioner cover and seen the sponge like dense growth, clearly a large living organism that wasn’t friendly, and knew that this life form was the cause of my head hurting like hell for the next 4 to 5 weeks.
Blowing in additional attic insulation was a chore I knew was doable. Yet, it was even more doable to avoid doing it. Until I caught a wild hair yesterday and just bought 11 bags of Fiberglass insulation, and got the blower rental for free from Home Depot (free with 10 or more bags). Total cost, around $400. Effort: not too bad, maybe two and half hours for an 1100 square foot attic. The Home Depot insulation blow rental machine was a bit beat up. I had to figure out my own coupling to three sections of hoses. I had a scrap 2.5” PVC plumbing couple that with some duct tape worked marvelously. I had my fifteen year old son help, and also my girlfriend, they cut bags in the middle, broke the bales of insulation in half and then inserted them into the hopper, being careful to remove the plastic wrap before that gummed up the works.
The job upstairs, in a very hot attic was relatively easy, I sat on the rafters, being very careful not to put weight on drywall where I would just break through into the room below, and aimed the hose, which blew out flakes of insulation like giant snowflakes in a blizzard.
There is an art to feeding the insulation machine. My son packed it loosely, and the machine regularly sputtered and blew air more than insulation. My girlfriend packed it too tightly, jamming the mixing paddles at the bottom, so that we had to unpack a full machine of insulation, getting insulation all over my garage floor (and subsequently lawn), to free the paddles so they could once again spin freely.
I did spend a bit of time evaluating fiberglass vs cellulose insulation. Factors for cellulose were: that’s what the house had originally (all six inches of it), it has an irritant to rodents, it is not fiberglass, but more like shredded newspaper. Factors against cellulose were that the irritant to rodents was going to be an irritant to me as well, it’s dustier than sandy plains on a windy day. Fiberglass had better reviews, and cost more, so I bought that. It turned out well. The fiberglass wasn’t itchy the way I remember fiberglass batts being, and it wasn’t dusty, although just being in the existing cellulose made the air up in the attic thick and hard to see the length of the attic. That proved to me I chose wisely. I could see light from the house in the attic through slits in can lights and the like. Cellulose would have made my house dusty in a way that the thick cohesive flakes of fiberglass didn’t.
I get the sense the online insulation calculator instructed me to buy more than I need. Yet, that is better, much better than too little. My attic insulation is at around R60 now. I noticed the difference right away. Going back downstairs my house was comfortably warm instead of sweltering. I was able to wear a t-shirt rather than being forced to be shirtless to keep the shirt dry.
Would I do this again on future homes, and any of my rentals with accessible attics? Absolutely.
For the money this was an amazing upgrade. I saw online a typical contractor would charge $1400 for this same job, and I think they would have stopped earlier, using far less insulation than I did – I would have returned some insulation if my helpers hadn’t already cut all the bales in half, so that we just kept running through all of the bags getting me up to around double the required level of insulation. For $1400 with a contractor, they would have stopped somewhere around R30-R38.
Other home projects you are curious about? I have done lots on my numerous rentals and personal residences. Drop me a line with questions.
Best
Fleming