Episode 009 1995 - 96 Season
| Attic Insulation | Clogged up Sink | Remodeling | Baking Soda | Foam Insulation | Private Mortgage Insurance | |
To order a Video Tape, call 1-800-TO-BUILD and ask for Episode #009.
Michael Holigan: And once you get up in the attic look at your insulation, how do you have, how much do you need. It's measured by R factors. That's the resistance to heat and cool. And you want a lot. The bigger the number the better. A lot of builders are going to try to get away with an R22. What we recommend you have is an R38.
Al Carrell: It cost a little bit more, but it's going to be well worth it in energy savings. However, if you do end up with a builder that does this to you, there is a solution! You just take these and start putting them in there and you do this every month. And if you bring it up the level of the R38, hey, you're going to be just about even.
M.H.: It's definitely something you don't want to do, so make sure they do it right to begin with. Let's go up in the attic and get started. Before we add the insulation in the ceiling, we need to prepare for it. We've got Craig Smith back with us from Williams Insulation. Good to have you here again Craig.
Craig Smith: Pleasure to be here again.
M.H.: Hey, we are about ready. Everything's in place. HVAC's in. What do we need to do to prepare for the insulation?
C.S.: We make sure that the attic with adequate ventilation is there by applying baffles everywhere that you have a vent.
M.H.: You mean the sofit vents around the edge of the house.
C.S.: That's correct.
M.H.: I've noticed a lot of people repainting their house that the builders who did it didn't have baffles then, insulation blew right over their vents and when they pull the vent off to paint, insulation just starts falling out.
C.S.: Some of the older homes you'll find that it is that way.
M.H.: Yeah, it's really going to let the air circulate and that's going to be a cooler attic, so it's easier on the insulation.
C.S.: Keeps the insulation in place to. If you have air blowing through that vent coming up into your attic from the outside, let's say a north wind blows in, the tendency is there if the baffle's not there it'll move that insulation back from the perimeter of your house. You don't want that. You want the insulation to stay in place.
M.H.: Well, what else?
C.S.: Well, the other thing I would do is anyplace that you have any decking in the attic, I would make sure that it was batted under effectively with the highest R value that you can do.
M.H.: So sometimes the builders will skip on that and you can't really blow underneath there very effectively. So you need to go ahead and add it beforehand.
C.S.: That's correct. The other thing that I would do is make sure that all the attic knee-walls, by that we mean that any wall that extends up into the attic that allows for the attic heat and cool to go into the house through that wall.
M.H.: And we really need to do that before we sheet rock it.
C.S.: That's correct.
M.H.: Okay. Well Al and I were doing our little trick and showing the money difference between like and R22 and an R38 insulation. How important is the thickness of the attic insulation?
C.S.: Well the attic is the biggest loser of energy in your home. You'll lose approximately 33% of your heating and cooling costs through the attic. And remember we discussed a few weeks ago that the higher the R value, the better the insulation is.
M.H.: Can you explain it to us one more time?
C.S.: Okay. R value is the ability of any substance to resist the flow of heat and cold. Every substance has it. The roofing members that you see here behind us, the insulation, the sheet rock, all of them have an R value. The higher the R value, the better the insulation. So going from and R22 to an R38 is a significant improvement in that insulation and the home's ability to resist the loss of heat and cold.
M.H.: Over the years will the insulation settle some? Is there a need to come back and add some insulation later?
C.S.: Well that was a thing that was happening many, many years ago whenever it was thought that just the inches created the R value in insulation. In this day and age, what we do as an insulation contractor is blow to a certified R. That means that we have to have a combination of inches and number of bags of material, i.e. pounds of material in that specific space in order to give you the R value. If you have an insulation contractor who's installing insulation to a certified R value, then you shouldn't have any settling at all.
M.H.: Once they start spraying the insulation in, what are they really doing and what do they need to watch for?
C.S.: What they're doing is to make sure that there's a nice level blow throughout. It's creating a blanket effect over the top of the house. We want to make sure that there's not any dips and valleys in the insulation, make sure they make it nice and level, and to make sure that the insulation is over the entire living area of the house.
M.H.: Do you know how many inches you need or how do you tell?
C.S.: Well, the manufacturer has a suggested recommended inch and bag per thousand square foot on each of the bags. So we go strictly by that. We would know that this home, for instance, is 1200 square foot of blowable area.
M.H.: Craig, appreciate the help.
Episode 009 1995 - 96 Season
| Attic Insulation | Clogged up Sink | Remodeling | Baking Soda | Foam Insulation | Private Mortgage Insurance | |
To order a Video Tape, call 1-800-TO-BUILD and ask for Episode #009.