Attic sealing and insulation

[SunHeart]

Hi All. I have a 3600 sq foot, 2 story center hall colonial home modular built in '93 in the Upper Hudson Valley of NY. I'm looking to have some attic and basement sealing done and attic insulation added. I got one quote of $14,000 for attic sealing, basement rim joist sealing along a minor unfinished wall of 30', and an additional 14 inches of blown in cellulose or fiberglass. There is currently about 6 inches of fiberglass batts that are in good shape that I plan to leave.

Does that sound reasonable? What are others experiences with this kind of work? Any thoughts on blown in cellulose vs fiberglass, or something else? Other things I should consider? I'm hoping to get another quote or two but it's hard to get calls back. Thanks for any sharings.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It really depends on what they planned to do and use. Insulation costs have gone up a good deal in the last few years and the guys in the industry that I know planned on them going a lot higher.

Blown in cellulose vs fiberglass...

The fiberglass is easier to clean up, but there's not much more that I can say about it that's positive. Cellulose is less expensive, fire retardant and provides air sealing.

Both will provide sound deadening.

Here's a good video on some of the differences.

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[joop]

can you do it yourself,not that hard and would save some denaro

 

[joop]

i don't know if it's the same in the states ,but here they throw out a high number and see if it sticks.if it doesn't they have enough work to keep busy

 

[begreen]

Seems high. I'd get some competitive quotes if possible.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Right now, it's a tough time to do insulation work. Outside temperatures are in the 90s. Attics are much hotter. The workers are going to be moving slow so they don’t misstep.

 

[begreen]

I worked on hvac and electric work in attics back east during the summer. Hated those jobs. You want to jump into the nearest lake afterward.

 

[peakbagger]

Give it a month and attics will be far more hospitable. The trade off is spray foam needs to be sprayed in warm temps, I found out the hard way and have lot of cracks where foam shrunk in my attic as they applied it in cold temps. The basement foam around my sill is solid, no shrinkage cracks but the basement was a lot warmer.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

While curing the foam will put off more heat too! Tyvek suits aren’t fun in the heat! Lol.

 

[woodgeek]

Seems high to me. The airsealing work can be labor intensive, and its hard to guess how much there is to do in a '93 house.

 

[KDubU]

Blown in cellulose is easy to do, but you need at least one helper at the hopper. We used cellulose on two of the three homes we built, zero regrets. On the second home, we were shooting between r50-55 in the ceiling and it looked like several feet of grey snow once done. I prefer cellulose, wet or dry, to fiberglass. Going spray foam I believe can help rodent problems more than cellulose or fiberglass and the batts you have there now, should be checked for this. I am considering having all the fiberglass batts sucked out the attic in this new place we have and was thinking of spray foam although I am not a huge fan of the smell and toxicity of it initially. It definitely works and for me to do it right, I think that would be the best way to go.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Insulation tearout is a horrible job! We have an insulation vacuum and that makes it better, but it's still nasty. I remember pulling batts and stuffing them into contractor bags, lol.

Closed cell foam does a decent job of keeping mice out. Open cell not so much.

 

[KDubU]

Insulation tearout is a horrible job! We have an insulation vacuum and that makes it better, but it's still nasty. I remember pulling batts and stuffing them into contractor bags, lol.

Closed cell foam does a decent job of keeping mice out. Open cell not so much.

You want to come over and do mine? I buy you a lobster dinner.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Ugh. I usually recommend people get their electrical to where they want it and then cover it all over with the cellulose. I've only done a few tear outs that I wouldn't have been satisfied just doing encapsulation. The worst was a grey squirrel job where the squirrels had been in there for a long time. They'd chewed every wire up there. They had to have an electrician come in and do something like 25k worth of rewiring before we could have an insulation company come blow fiberglass in. It was over a very large vehicle bay.

 

[KDubU]

We have almost no electric runs up there which is good. I just know there are mice like 99% of homes and nothing against them, just prefer they stay outside somewhere else. Closed cell is what I was considering but it’s pricey.

 

[joop]

roxul mice hate it

 

[joop]

put closed cell on wall's in extension,not impressed with soundproofness,if thats a word lol

 

[EatenByLimestone]

We have almost no electric runs up there which is good. I just know there are mice like 99% of homes and nothing against them, just prefer they stay outside somewhere else. Closed cell is what I was considering but it’s pricey.

Easiest solution to them is to fix the holes, then get rid of the ones still inside.

 

[brenndatomu]

Ugh. I usually recommend people get their electrical to where they want it and then cover it all over with the cellulose. I've only done a few tear outs that I wouldn't have been satisfied just doing encapsulation. The worst was a grey squirrel job where the squirrels had been in there for a long time. They'd chewed every wire up there. They had to have an electrician come in and do something like 25k worth of rewiring before we could have an insulation company come blow fiberglass in. It was over a very large vehicle bay.

If I were doing spray foam I think I'd want electrical in conduit.

roxul mice hate it

Or Airkrete! Wish I had went this route!

Home | Airkrete - All Green Light Weight Cement Insulation!

The most environmentally safe, the only fireproof insulation on the planet, gives off zero noxious gases and odors, and is 100% pest and mold resistant!

www.airkrete.com

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I would have put bullet proof on that list of aircrete benefits! It must be at some thickness! I’m not sure I’d want my attic insulated with concrete unless it was designed for those loads, lol.

 

[brenndatomu]

I’m not sure I’d want my attic insulated with concrete unless it was designed for those loads, lol.

Its light...

 

[woodgeek]

Its light...

So is snow....

 

[brenndatomu]

So is snow....

Not always...you gonna insulate with some snow?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Just to add a bit of info to this thread. Maybe it’ll help you compare prices from insulation contractors.

Yesterday I priced out an insulation tear out for squirrels and then blowing in 1700 sq ft of r38 in cellulose.

90 bags at a current price of $11.50/bag. The logistics of moving 90 bags at once, it’d be close to what we could fit in our insulation trailer, caused us to look into subcontracting it out to an insulation company.

We texted them, and they came back with a price of $2800, we’ll let them blow the cellulose in. That’s pretty close to what we’d have to charge to get a crew, equipment, and material there for the job and we don’t have to worry about stepping through the ceiling, etc. They’ll arrive in a box truck with a big blowing unit inside, and blow it in in a few hours.

 

[yooperdave]

Hi All. I have a 3600 sq foot, 2 story center hall colonial home modular built in '93 in the Upper Hudson Valley of NY. I'm looking to have some attic and basement sealing done and attic insulation added. I got one quote of $14,000 for attic sealing, basement rim joist sealing along a minor unfinished wall of 30', and an additional 14 inches of blown in cellulose or fiberglass. There is currently about 6 inches of fiberglass batts that are in good shape that I plan to leave.

Does that sound reasonable? What are others experiences with this kind of work? Any thoughts on blown in cellulose vs fiberglass, or something else? Other things I should consider? I'm hoping to get another quote or two but it's hard to get calls back. Thanks for any sharings.

Had mine done last winter. 3400 sq attic blown in cellulose; air sealing three fans; insulate kitchen exhaust pipe; insualte/seal 2 attic scuttles. In addition, center of house has rasied ceiling with 2' vertical walls in attic that were also insulated with "blueboard". There was 6" or 8" batts in the attic existing. IIRC, total was 2650.......no where near 14000!

As an afterthought, I asked how much the rim joists spray foamed would be. (28 X 60) Since they had to make anther trip, it would be in the area of 1200.....still way less than 14000.

Yeah, get another estimate.