Attic insulation ?

[Tanis143]

You sound like a cable guy. I sure don't miss the 10 years I did cable and satellite.

Going on 18 myself, 14 as a field tech.

 

[TwoForFlinching]

I did 18 inches across 1500sq feet a few years ago. Haven't had an electric bill over $90 since. The insulation is a huge help, but you'll really get on top of it with a programmable smart thermostat. I like the Honeywell wifi products. System goes from 68 to 80 when I leave in the morning. Doesn't run at all during the heat of the day, usually hovers around 75-ish when I get home in the evening. The stone floors help a ton too.

 

[doctorjj]

Blown in fiberglass is the most common. Oak Ridge Labs did some studies on it though and during reallly cold temperatures, the fiberglass has micro convection currents that decreased its effectiveness. So when you need it the most, it works the worst. You can cap it with just a couple inches of blown in cellulose and gain, not only the added depth of the cellulose, but the full R value of what the fiberglass should be.

 

[Preacherman]

Go with spray foam. I have a friend that has done hvac and he worked in the attic in the summer heat that had spray foam and said that it was almost as cool in the attic as it was in the house.

 

[dennishoddy]

I was looking at a house at one point and one of my plans was to put in a ridge vent and soffits all along the bottom. Then put firing strips on the rafters and install the blue semi rigid foam sheets. Then when the roof heats up it's really only heating the area between the roof and the foam. Heat rises up and out and the area underneath stays cooler but you still have ventilation keeping the roof materials dry. If the peak is high enough you could put in a large flat area and use the solar vents to exhaust even more heat.

And installing blown in insulation is pretty easy if you have an area to walk. But you will still need to put the semi rigid foam panels in around the edges so you are not blowing the soffits full. A lot of times the big box stores will lean you the machine if you buy enough of the insulation so if it's a point where you buy one or two more go for it. Just remember that it settles over time so if it says to blow in 15 inches do that and then go back over with the extra left over at the end and add a little more. And remember that the walking areas need to have insulation as well so again the foam panels laid down and CD over top with foam stood up to prevent the blown in from falling over.

While you are up the run cat 5 and coax cables. You will not want to try and do it afterwards. Will cost you about 250 extra to do it yourself and increase the value of the house at the same time.

And if you have a crawl space under the house you actually need to insulate it as well. Slab homes are just sol.

I got a tour of a guys house the other day that is under construction when the outside temps were 90 degrees. He had the spray foam insulation in the roof filling in the area between the shingles and the trusses. Roof and soffit vents with I don't know how much cellulose insulation in the ceiling joists. He had a company install it with it infused with borax. It's an insecticide and with it mixed with water in the spray process, it dries, and doesn't settle. It was entirely comfortable to walk around up there unlike most attics that run well over 100 degrees.
He also has a master bedroom closet that is a very large above ground storm shelter. Lined with gun mounts that make "Q's" gun display in the early James Bond Movies look like a beginner. Good Lord that man has a lot of fine guns.

 

[NightShade]

Yeah the more insulation the better. And the whole Idea about a house needing to breathe isn't exactly correct. The outside should be sealed as air tight as possible. The inside is where the materials should be breathing to since it is a more stable environment, less humidity therefor less moisture for the materials to absorb and need to dry out. Adding borax to the insulation is a good idea though, help make sure nothing wants to get in there and live but I would imagine it makes any repairs a pain later on.