Previous owner said they always had huge icicles off the back of the house. This would be why.
.75 inches of fiberglass, where there should be at LEAST 8 inches, and code for our area more like 15 inches.
Combine that with the uninsulated, unblocked floor cavities in the upstairs floor joists, that lead directly to the uninsulated attic space…
And combine THAT with the 4(!!!) access points to the attic that were not only completely uninsulated, but also had no weather sealing, and ⅛-¼ inch gaps around all edges.
This house was literally leaking warm air like a sieve, all winter long.
I’m only putting in 8 inches of fiberglass batting. And sealing every crack and joint I can find, as well as the gaping holes 🤦♂️
It’ll still be under code, but, insulating it properly with spray foam would cost literally SIXTEEN TIMES MORE than just using the batting. And considering that our long term goal is to condition the attic space by insulating the roof deck, obsoleting the insulation I’m putting in now, I’m not eager to overspend.
I’ll settle for only blocking 95% of heat flow, instead of 99.
Edit, update: I took a few days off, the temp outside went up, and it was sunny, so the attic got real hot real fast. No thanks, I’m not in that kind of rush.
But I got all of one side done yesterday, still need to put the boards back down, and insulate the gappy door, but it’s sealed.
Am electrician, if youre considering adding any lights or power to that floor you should do so NOW vs after you insulate.
Had almost this identical insulation situation when I bought my house. The ceiling just had some thin rock wool. First I went to Lowes and got a few cans of fire-rated spray foam and used it to seal around all ceiling fixtures, canister lights, wire penetrations, anything air can leak from. Next I built a little dam with scrap wood around the access hatch. Then spent one Saturday with a friend blowing insulation in. 8 hours of blower rental was free for every 3 bags of insulation you bought, but it didn’t take nearly that much time. Had it up to R-48 depth in only about 4 hours of blowing. I submit the receipts to my state’s energy rebate program and was 100% reimbursed. I think the blow-in did a much better job and was easier to get into odd shaped framing than bat would have been.
My winter gas bill halved, much better than I hoped. I also wasn’t expecting for my summer AC to bill drop by almost 75%. My house was MUCH more comfortable too. Almost all the draftiness disappeared after that.
I paid $0 after rebates, spent probably 12 hours labor total, and save easily $100-$200 a month.
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Canadian, same. Dual measures are pretty universal. It’s honestly nearly impossible to find a stupid metric only tape. Super weird to see imperial only. Could be an old tool?
It’s crazy I know.
If I’m doing 3d design by myself? It’s metric all the way. Imperial fractions are the dumbest form of measurement, just beating out biblical “hand breadths” and cubits.
But alas, I grew up imperial measurements. So in my brain, for big measurements, feet and inches are easier for me to Intuit, so that’s what I use. And fractions get you close enough in most cases without having to go smaller than an 8th or maybe a 16th, so that’s what I use. Doubly so if you’re working with someone else.
I have had many tape measures in my time, most of them have had metric on the other side. I’ve literally never used it, because when I’m doing metric it’s small stuff and I’m using calipers. Frankly the metric on a tape measure just gets in the way, since that’s just not how I use it.
I sought out this tape measure because it was cheap, and it has the fractions written on it. Most tapes don’t, you just have to remember the length of the lines and the meanings of the general positions. I hate it, because I don’t do construction often enough to remember 🤷♂️
I got it at Menards, it’s proforce or something like that. Lime green.
All in all, I wish we were metric. But we are not. And it makes my life more difficult to try learning and then forcing others to use it. So imperial it is 🤷♂️
I have the reverse situation. There’s only like 3ft of clearance and 2.5ft of blown in fiberglass insulation.
Doing anything in the attic is a fucking nightmare.
The times I’ve gone up into my attic to do anything and have to crawl on my belly in blown in fiberglass are too many. I feel you.
I don’t even know how to get in mine. The opening is at the top of a tiny closet, and the hole is built for someone the size of like a 4 year old Ethiopian child. I could fit my toddler up there… But I am not really sure what that would actually accomplish.
My house originally had only this little sliding panel between two joists, so the opening was like 24" x 15". Just the most insanely claustrophobic experience I’ve ever had in a house. One of the first things I did on the house was to install a dropdown folding ladder access hatch – still blows my mind that the thing cost only $109. Found a hat up there that one of the builders must have lost when the house was intially constructed in 1942.
Wait, are you in my attic right now? I’m renting a garage “apartment” and that basically describes the attic space… $300/month in heating… God knows what I’m in for this winter…
Can you put insulation there by yourself, or will they find out you did it? It would probably cost less, than the heating bills…
It’s not a bad idea to be honest… My landlord is a nice older woman so if anything she’d probably appreciate it
I did a handful of maintenance things at my apartment when I lived there. Landlord was a chill dude, so long as you did the work correctly, he was appreciative of it. I fixed my own sink, replaced faucets, outlets, thermostat, you name it.
Probably spent 2 or 300 dollars over the course of several years living there. Totally worth it for the energy savings and quality of life improvements.
