attic insulation

3 years ago

Hi. This will be my 4th winter in my New Jersey “new to me” house and I can’t bare another winter with how cold it is inside. We invested in new windows and It hasn’t solved the problem. We do need a new front door. There are drafts coming in from that. That is next on list.

Here is a little background. Colonial built in 1986, 3 zone baseboard gas heat. Basement, and two floors.

I suspect the air is coming from the attic as I can feel the top of my head burning with cold when I am upstairs. The owners before me had blown in cellulose added to the attic floors and we can see about a foot down under it around some of the perimeter of attic there is spray foam down there. We also have a zipper thingy around the attic pull down steps. Not sure if it is insulted or not.

We got some estimates and an energy audit done and were quoted a fortune to add more blown in cellulose and do more spray foam in the joists. They said the basement was in good shape. My husband said he looked under some of the blown cellulose in a few spots and he saw some joists with spray foam just not sure if they were all done. We also have some green hard foam I guess for ventilation up a portion of the walls.

My husband thinks he can DIY this and thinks we only need to add insulation to the walls in the attic. He is planning on trying to buy a high RV value fiberglass stuff tomorrow and install.

Any other suggestions before he tackles this project? He is not a details guy and just thinks he’s knows what to do without any advice and we end up having to redo his projects quite frequently. I am a details person and want to make sure we are doing everything right the first time.

I really want to move if I can’t fix this once this ridiculous covid / recession home buying crap is over. I just don’t want to keep investing in this house. My bathrooms had major leaks after I moved in, replaced both of them, my hardwood floors were damaged from it and had to be replaced. I love my house but enough is enough.

This house is unbelievably cold in winter and unbelievably humid in summer. So uncomfortable all the time.

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Comments (7)

3onthetree
3 years ago
One area to consider that is as important as insulation is air sealing - it is simply closing the gaps in things so air can't move between cold and hot. There is actually a natural phenomenom occuring in your house that pulls air from places (see "stack effect"). So air seal the attic "floor" prior to insulation on top of it. Air seal the rim joist space in the basement ceiling. Air seal around penetrations through the wall, like a dryer duct or hose bibb. If your new windows were inserts, they could not have airsealed, but the rough opening around the window (hidden by the casing) is often a culprit without or enough insulation.

The next thing I would look at are your baseboard heaters. Making sure they are clean under the cover. Making sure if there are louvers on the cover they are directed and not blocked by furniture.
Elmer J Fudd
3 years ago
I suspect air intrusion too The tipoff is the comment about humidity in the summertime- if AC is running, attic insulation will have no effect on this, outdoor air is coming in.

Don't forget electrical receptacles and switches, water and drainpipes and maybe too radiator pipes passing through walls, and the like.

Construction techniques from decades ago paid little attention to sealing and avoiding air openings.
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PRO
G
3 years ago
Blower door test
rwiegand
3 years ago
Yes, step one is figuring out where the cold air is getting in and sealing those penetrations. If you have poor air sealing you can add insulation until you're blue in the face without having much effect on the problem.

Did they seal all the cavities around your new windows with spray foam when they installed them? Or (I hope not) -- are these "relacement" windows that were just stuck into existing leaky openings?

You may need a better energy audit-- did they actually do a blower door test?
badabing2
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I blew 500 pounds of cellulose in my attic (maybe 1000 sq ft) in 4 hours. Dusty, takes two people (one filling the hopper, other on the hose). HD delivered a palette of cellulose free and included one-day rental of the blower (or rent one locally), about $500 for cellulose. Like blowing out from a vacuum cleaner. Wear a good mask and painter's suit. Lots of YouTube videos to get you started. So much nicer to deal with than fiberglass, better R-value, no pests, fireproof, etc. Calculator here:

https://www.greenfiber.com/
mike_home
3 years ago
Does the house have the original builder grade windows from 1986? If so then I suspect that is the source of the cold air infiltration. No amount of attic insulation and sealing will help if you have a cross wind of cold air between windows.
PRO
User
3 years ago
Blowing in cellulose is dead easy DIY. But it is a 2 pronged approach with air sealing.