DIY home insulation

[esuitt]

Some one told me that you can rent the insulator blowers. Does anyone know were to get them? and then were do I get the insulation material?
I am not doing this from the outside with the cement asbestos siding and a 3 story house. I would going through the plaster trying to fill in the walls.

 

[muncybob]

Many times the provider of the insulation has the blower units...often if you buy enough insulation the blower is at no charge. Going to me a bit of a mess from the inside?

 

[semipro]

I'm not sure the blowers available at home centers are the type needed to do walls but I could be mistaken. I thought they were only for blowing in attic insulation. I'd be happy to find out otherwise though.

It sounds like you might want to research "dense packed cellulose" if you haven't already.

 

[esuitt]

Many times the provider of the insulation has the blower units...often if you buy enough insulation the blower is at no charge. Going to me a bit of a mess from the inside?

I am not sure were to find either. Why I was asking here is anyone knew.
Drilling holes on the outside of the house is not an option. I am not climbing a ladder 30 + feet, nor can I stand on one for long periods of time. And I know you can get replacement shingles, but they are a PITA.
So, if I have to make a mess in the house, that is the way it has to be.
I am sure my pellet consumption would go down. 2 bags a days keeps the house at 75 most of the time. But the central air in the summer time kills my electric bill, ranging from $400 - 600 month.

 

[esuitt]

I'm not sure the blowers available at home centers are the type needed to do walls but I could be mistaken. I thought they were only for blowing in attic insulation. I'd be happy to find out otherwise though.

It sounds like you might want to research "dense packed cellulose" if you haven't already.

I looked around on Home Depot site at their rental tools and did not see anything for insulation. That does not mean they do not have it or know were to get one.

 

[midwestcoast]

Around here Home Depot, Lowes and Menards all give you the blower free if you buy X bags of cellulose from them. I used HD when I did my attic 'cause they gave the blower free for 24hrs vs 8hrs for Lowes.
Fiberglass blower is the same as far as I know.
My house was covered with cellulose dust after that day, but who cares, that's what vacuums are for.
These blowers will not do Dense Pack that the pros do for cellulose in walls. They're only meant for attics. Using one of these to do your walls I'd bet you'll end up with more voids and the stuff will settle, leaving tops of the bays un-filled. Not saying you can't do it well, just would need to consider those problems first. I'd get a couple pro quotes first before deciding on DIY.
Insulation contractors would be my best guess on where you could get a dense-pack capable machine. Maybe if you bought the cellulose from them they'd rent you the blower?

 

[benjamin]

Menards and Home Depot all have blowers that I have seen. They are always smaller portable blowers and never the professional models. The quality and condition of the blowers varies widely. I have used one very nice rental blower but mostly they are old and tired.

You certainly can blow insulation into walls with some, if not all of these blowers. Some of the blowers will not come with the sidewall nozzle and if you ask, they might say the blower is not recommended for sidewalls. For sidewalls you want to add the material very slowly to get it packed tight. I like to duct tape a plastic caulk tube (with the WHOLE end cut off of course) into the end of the hose for walls. There are two basic types, airlock is most common because they can blow cellulose of fiberglass, the other type has agitators and a blower that sucks the cellulose in and blows it out the hose. Either will work but a worn airlock will be the worst PITA for blowing into sidewalls.

I wish I could tell you what to look for, but the easiest thing is probably to stop in and take a look at what blower models are available, then go look them up to see what they can do. Unless you actually find someone at the store who knows what they're talking about.

 

[esuitt]

Thanks everyone for the info! Appreciate it.

 

[richg]

Sidewall insulation will do little, if anything, relative to high AC bills in the summer. Some things to check:

Do you have a properly functioning ridge and soffit vent system?

What is the quality and effectiveness of y our attic insulation? Are you at R-40 or above? Have you sealed all attic penetrations?

Have you considered radiant barrier? You can get enough to do a full attic for less than $200.00; I would recommend trying a full summer with radiant barrier before going through the hassle and expense of sidewall insualtion

In lieu of radiant barrier, have you considered a reflective roof coating?

Heat rises and cold sinks. Start with the above before you beat your brains out with sidewall insulation.

 

[esuitt]

House is 107 y/o and has slate shingled roof.
There is blown in cellulose in the attack, not sure how much or effective it is and then there is a bluish green foam in the rafters of the roof, sort of looks like egg crate.
We keep the attic windows cracked open from the top down, since I know this is no ridge vent. I had the eves and soffits covered the year we moved in but the under lament is tongue and grove siding.
What is radiant barrier?

 

[richg]

Radiant barrier looks like tin foil from hell, and it reflects heat away from the living space. You staple it to either the underside of your attic rafters or roll it out on the attic floor. A reflective roof coating is a silver or white-colored paint that you apply to your roofing, which performs the same function. It is going to be more effective than radiant barrier, but you will obviously now have a silver or white roof. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so if you can live with a silver roof, you will also see a big reduction in your summer AC bills.

 

[gpcollen1]

For walls: you need that high pressure insulation system so you can fill any voids. That one from HD will not do the walls. You need to cut a 2 inch hole into every bay in the house, either from the outside or inside. My buddy had it done and they did a great job on removing shakes and putting them back - this is what they do. The tax credit is a big help too. Really kept these guys busy.

Ceiling: This is where you tend to have some major losses of heat and cool. Right now most energy companies will come out and do an audit for you for cheap and pin point where you have issues. Area like Attic door/stairs, outlets, eaves, sill plates, windows are usually the big ones.

Bottom line is that there are many things you can do, like laying another blanket of insulation in your attic, to improve your condition but items like blowing insulation in bays are really better off done by a pro - and this is from a DIYer to the death. Other item is spray foam and CAULK. Insulation is great but if there is air flow somewhere, the insulation means nothing.

G

 

[benjamin]

I still contend that HD has some blowers that are capable of blowing sidewalls tight enough to not settle, but otherwise I agree entirely with the good points above. Also, it is possible to do a good job blowing through holes as small as one inch, but I usually use 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 for blowing from inside.

We should all know that hot air rises, so cold air gets sucked in at the foundation and sill plate, travels up through the house and hot air leaks out of the upper floor windows, cracks and holes in the attic floor. If you are air conditioning it's even worse, because the air that leaks out at the bottom is cooled interior air, but the air that is sucked in at the top is superheated attic air, so the "engine" that is driving the air leakage is not just the small temp difference between the outside and inside but the bigger temp difference between the attic and the inside.

Air leakage is the first and only issue to resolve, and the attic and basement are where you have the most work to do. Once that is done, the simplest way to decrease the wall air movement is cellulose insulation, it just happens to be called insulation, but we use it to slow air movement.

 

[esuitt]

Thanks
I was checking out radiant barrier blankets last night after reading RichG post. It seems I can get the 25lb stuff for around $145 for 1000 sq ft roll.
Now just have to find someone to go up into the attic to staple it in. I can stand up in the main attic, but my knees would never take trying to get down into the eves and corners.
I was thinking of getting some pink roll to lay across the blown insulation also.
This crazy wind is killing my heat, my house is usually 74 at night. This morning I woke up and it is 70 downstairs, so I know it is cool upstairs.

 

[esuitt]

This is similar to what is in the trusses my attic crawl space.
http://www.homedepot.com/Building-M...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
After reading the description, it is only ridge venting. Does not help with insulating.
Question is, do I go over this with radiant barrier or cover my blown in with pink roll?
HD insulator calculator recommends 49 for the attic, 11 for the basement and 25 for the floors. My basement is not finished, but previous owner put insulation around the foundation and floor joices. Are floors really needed? That would be a pain going around all the electric and plumbing.

 

[billb3]

Sidewall insulation will do little, if anything, relative to high AC bills in the summer. .

Cool. I'll have to remove all the insulation from the sidewalls of my fridge.
The manufacturers obviously had no clue what they were thinking.

 

[benjamin]

Sidewall insulation will do little, if anything, relative to high AC bills in the summer. .

Cool. I'll have to remove all the insulation from the sidewalls of my fridge.
The manufacturers obviously had no clue what they were thinking.

Your fridge doesn't have a stack 30 feet high, and this old house doesn't have magnetic seals on it's only opening.

Read around on this site, people insulate their chimneys to get them to draft BETTER, that's a much better comparison than a refrigerator.

 

[semipro]

This is similar to what is in the trusses my attic crawl space.
http://www.homedepot.com/Building-M...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
After reading the description, it is only ridge venting. Does not help with insulating.
Question is, do I go over this with radiant barrier or cover my blown in with pink roll?
HD insulator calculator recommends 49 for the attic, 11 for the basement and 25 for the floors. My basement is not finished, but previous owner put insulation around the foundation and floor joices. Are floors really needed? That would be a pain going around all the electric and plumbing.

These ventilation channels are installed (only) to enable soffit to ridge ventilation by preventing insulation installed between the rafters from restricting the air flow under roof sheathing. These were installed so that the roof could be insulated later if wanted. I'm not sure why these are even needed on a slate roof since I don't think overheating of slate is a problem. Maybe an asphalt roof was there previously?

Based on what I understand your options depend upon how you plan to use the attic space. If you don't want it conditioned for occupancy or some other reason and given that you already have blown-in insulation I think your options are:

A) Install a radiant barrier along the bottom of the rafters as previously described
B) Add more insulation to what's already there (I'd suggest blown in cellulose)
C) Both the A and B

I'm not sure which buys you the most bang for your buck though. Either way make sure and seal any air leaks between house and attic space first. That's definitely more cost-effective than adding insulation or a radiant barrier. A lot of times you can identify these spots by the dirty appearance of the insulation nearby as the insulation tends to filter contamination out of the air flowing through.

If you the attic space to be conditioned then you'll want to:
D) install batt insulation between the rafters
E) install a radiant barrier and/or wallboard on the bottom of the ratters.
F) both


As for your basement, more info is needed about types of insulation, where and how its installed, and how you use your basement.

 

[esuitt]

Thanks Semi

Well, 1/3 of the attic is partial finished: h/w flooring, plaster walls and some sort of cardboard ceiling (it is not plaster or drywall).
We had the eves, soffit covered in vinyl with original tongue and grove underneath. Attic windows replaced 3 y/o, but off course the contractor let 1/4 to 1/2" gaps around the framing. I just used expansion foam tonight to fill those gaps in.
The HD we went to only had 2 rolls of the 4'x25' radiant barrier and I need 4. So, I may just order online since it is cheaper, as long as the shipping does not kill me. I picked up six rolls of R30 and was going to roll that across the existing blown in insulation.

Basement is slate foundation w/ dirt floor. Just used for storage. H/W heater, oil tank and furnace. Previous owner did attempt to fill in the areas around the foundation and floor joices with insulation. But nothing else has been done except for nail board and vapor barrier on the walls.

The house being a 107 y/o has old wooden interior panel doors, nothing square or even.
Just replacement windows and exterior doors.

 

[semipro]

Thanks Semi

Well, 1/3 of the attic is partial finished: h/w flooring, plaster walls and some sort of cardboard ceiling (it is not plaster or drywall).
We had the eves, soffit covered in vinyl with original tongue and grove underneath. Attic windows replaced 3 y/o, but off course the contractor let 1/4 to 1/2" gaps around the framing. I just used expansion foam tonight to fill those gaps in.
The HD we went to only had 2 rolls of the 4'x25' radiant barrier and I need 4. So, I may just order online since it is cheaper, as long as the shipping does not kill me. I picked up six rolls of R30 and was going to roll that across the existing blown in insulation.

Basement is slate foundation w/ dirt floor. Just used for storage. H/W heater, oil tank and furnace. Previous owner did attempt to fill in the areas around the foundation and floor joices with insulation. But nothing else has been done except for nail board and vapor barrier on the walls.

The house being a 107 y/o has old wooden interior panel doors, nothing square or even.
Just replacement windows and exterior doors.

It sounds like you'd benefit from insulation above the basement. I'd suggest you spend some time at the Building Science Corp. website and read up on what to do with your basement. That site is an incredible resource and you'll see it referenced a lot in this forum. (http://www.buildingscience.com/)

My strongest suggestion would be to address air leaks before worrying about thermal insulation. It sounds like you're doing that. Good luck.