Blow in Attic Insulation Providers

[codetrap]

I was up in the attic last night installing a ceiling fan in my daughters room, and it appears they skimped a bit on the the blown in cellulose. I have about 6-8 inches of the stuff up there, and I'm thinking I'd like about 15-16. So, anyone know of a reputable installer?

Thanks in advance guys.

[G-ZUS]

DIY, it's very easy. You can rent the machine from Home Depot, have someone dump the insulation in the machine and you spray as much as you want

[510-Trevor]

Originally posted by G-ZUS
DIY, it's very easy. You can rent the machine from Home Depot, have someone dump the insulation in the machine and you spray as much as you want
x2 My parents just did their garage last summer this way and are in their 60's . Way cheaper than paying somebody to do it.

[codetrap]

I got a couple of quotes back already. They're quoting around $600 for time and materials. That's pretty reasonable for a job that I don't want to do.

[G-ZUS]

If you want, I can ask my friend if hell do it

[CSMRX7]

Can you let me know where you got the quote. Would save me some time.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by CSMRX7
Can you let me know where you got the quote. Would save me some time.

Affordable Insulation has called me back so far.
http://www.homeinsulators.com/
He's quoted $671 for approx 913sq feet. They use fibreglass blow in, and I'm looking for cellulose. Everything I've read shows that cellulose is a superior product. But he can come tomorrow if I book him today.

*This is not a recommendation*

Also called:
Zero Draft 403-651-8822
http://zerodraftcalgary.com/
They took my info, and will have a quote person call me this afternoon.

Celltech 403-243-4614
No website.. seems to be a small outfit.
I got these names from Can-Cell Industries.

[black_shadow_18]

just an FYI, I had a real rough time with zero draft.. they had a real hard time returning calls, and actually showing up...

[codetrap]

Black,

They're coming by tomorrow to give me a quote on cellulose blow in. Didn't take long for them to call me back get a quote for me.

[R-Audi]

Thanks for posting the info...
I contacted Home insulators for a dril, blow and patch estimate. (Im in a 1910 build home, with likely no insulation in the walls!)

[codetrap]

I ended up going with the Zero Draft quote. They're coming next Thursday to add R30 of cellulose. The quote guy was pretty thorough while he was up there. I have a fair amount of frost on the inside of the roof, and he thought at first it was because I had a huge air leak into the attic, but after poking around and finding (and fixing) one little tear in the vapour barrier, he figures it's because the insulation stops were compressed on about half of the rafters, and the trapdoor wasn't properly sealed. This goes hand in hand with my super high humidity in the house (75% RH) that I had and my wife running the humidifier in my daughters room till water was running down the walls. Attic access in that room.

So, they're going to add in 28 rigid foam insulation stops, use a 2 part foam on my attic hatch, and add in R30 to bring it up to R50. Final cost is quoted at about $1000 tax in. It would have been $100 less if I went fiber glass, but I've read enough online to be convinced that cellulose is a superior product. This quote was in line with what my dad paid north of edmonton for his attic to be done with cellulose plus the calgary tax.

[codetrap]

FYi, I went with Zero draft. The guys were fast, professional, and kept me informed on what they were doing through the whole process. They put in 38 bags of insulation up there to bring it up to an R50. Total price was $1032 for 913 sq feet of attic.

[suntan]

Bump from the dead!

So you guys that did insulation top-ups, did you find it made a difference in comfort and/or energy usage?

[suntan]

Had my attic topped up to R50. Made a huge difference. Not sure if the furnace is going to run less so much that it'll impact my bill, but it's way warmer upstairs.

Also sealed the attic hatch by spray foaming the space between the trim and the hatch sides, and put weatherstripping around the trim where the hatch meets. There was definitely a moisture problem there as there was ice all around the hatch sides. Checked this morning and there's just a tiny bit left. I'm going to put some VB and more insulation around the sides to see if that helps.

Also spray foamed around the furnace room door casing, wow that really cut down on the noise.

[lint]

just had mine done, went with Ideal Insulation. Added air chutes and topped up to r50. Luckily had it done right before the current cold snap. I used an IR thermometer to measure ceiling temps before and after, with no changes to the thermostat set to 21C. Before top up, was getting 17C-18C, day after 21C. Measured same time of day, outside weather was about the same on the 2 days. Definitely worth it for me.

[bigbadboss101]

I am going to get ours done I think. Will try a couple places.

[Buster]

Bump...is this worth a retrofit?

I have to re-insulate the section above my bathroom reno upstairs (I should have done it in the summer). But they would have to pull out all of the old fibreglass and put cellulose in, I think?

[jeffh]

Originally posted by Buster
Bump...is this worth a retrofit?

I have to re-insulate the section above my bathroom reno upstairs (I should have done it in the summer). But they would have to pull out all of the old fibreglass and put cellulose in, I think?

I thought you had garbage bags full of cellulose up there. Why not just rip em open and spread it around the bathroom ceiling. Or place any batts you have up there between the rafters/against the vapour barrier. Wish you woulda mentioned it, as I would have even done it while I was up there.

[Buster]

Originally posted by jeffh


I thought you had garbage bags full of cellulose up there. Why not just rip em open and spread it around the bathroom ceiling. Or place any batts you have up there between the rafters/against the vapour barrier. Wish you woulda mentioned it, as I would have even done it while I was up there.

I thin kit's the pink fibreglass?

And I'm feeling a bit lazy to get up there now...lol.

Thanks gain for the work, that was a lifesaver.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Buster
Bump...is this worth a retrofit?


Yes. We had our 50's bungelow done in the spring. We definitely noticed a difference in the summer heat. The attic didn't heat soak the house like it had in the past.

In the winter, honestly didn't notice a big difference. So what I did was setup my furnace to run the lowest speed fan 24/7 (although hooked up to an easy to access switch, which I turn off when it gets above 0*C), and when the furnace kicks in, it runs at med-high speed.

This has made more difference (in winter) than anything else I've done in the past decade to our house. No more cold spots, no more drafts, and it only costs about $20 a month more in electricity.

[Buster]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok


Yes. We had our 50's bungelow done in the spring. We definitely noticed a difference in the summer heat. The attic didn't heat soak the house like it had in the past.

In the winter, honestly didn't notice a big difference. So what I did was setup my furnace to run the lowest speed fan 24/7 (although hooked up to an easy to access switch, which I turn off when it gets above 0*C), and when the furnace kicks in, it runs at med-high speed.

This has made more difference (in winter) than anything else I've done in the past decade to our house. No more cold spots, no more drafts, and it only costs about $20 a month more in electricity.

did they just vacuum out the old stuff?

[suntan]

Lots of places will remove the old stuff, but why? There's nothing wrong with it unless you had some sort of animal infestation or water penetration.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Buster


did they just vacuum out the old stuff?

Nope, just blew in more overtop. As said, no reason to remove the old stuff.

[Buster]

How easy is it to tell the R value in your attic with your current insulation?

[suntan]

Just measure what you have with a tape measure, look online to find equivalent R-value.

e.g.

https://www.lowes.com/cd_Blown+In+R+Value+Insulation+Calculator_477243886_


Anyhoo, I discovered something today. I set my ceiling fans to turn clockwise, turned them on and now my upstairs is the same temp as my downstairs (22.5C). Mind blown.

[HomespunLobster]

Originally posted by suntan

Anyhoo, I discovered something today. I set my ceiling fans to turn clockwise, turned them on and now my upstairs is the same temp as my downstairs (22.5C). Mind blown. [/B]

My winterization of my house, and spring break in procedure include changing the direction of the cieling fan. Amazing what it does spinning the other way

[suntan]

The funny part was the bedroom fans were already set to clockwise... Whoops!