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Our home is only 14 y/o and has that blown-in cellulose insulation (the gray looking stuff) in the attic. I was wondering if it would be okay to add more? How much can you add? I see that Lowe's rents the machine for free if you purchase the insulation. Is it a hard job? One man or two person job? Thanks for the help.
Yes its OK to add more.
You can add: 1. as much as you can afford, or 2, as much that will fit. You don't want to cover up the soffit or eave vents, but add away .
It does take two people. ONe to man the hose blowing it in the attic, and the other to fill the machine as you go.
This is probably not the best time to be up in attics working. This is a project that is best done is early spring or late fall/early winter. IN the summer, the attic temps are pretty high and hard to be up there for any amount of time.
You will need to wear long sleeve shirt, gloves, a respirator, and probably head protection as well. The attic I was in today was 141 degrees. After 15 minutes I was about done in.
Yes its OK to add more.
You can add: 1. as much as you can afford, or 2, as much that will fit. You don't want to cover up the soffit or eave vents, but add away .
It does take two people. ONe to man the hose blowing it in the attic, and the other to fill the machine as you go.
This is probably not the best time to be up in attics working. This is a project that is best done is early spring or late fall/early winter. IN the summer, the attic temps are pretty high and hard to be up there for any amount of time.
You will need to wear long sleeve shirt, gloves, a respirator, and probably head protection as well. The attic I was in today was 141 degrees. After 15 minutes I was about done in.
Yeah, I was just planning ahead. No way I would attempt it right now. We already had some old guy this summer croak in his attic looking for a roof leak.
Our home is only 14 y/o and has that blown-in cellulose insulation (the gray looking stuff) in the attic. I was wondering if it would be okay to add more? How much can you add? I see that Lowe's rents the machine for free if you purchase the insulation. Is it a hard job? One man or two person job? Thanks for the help.
Try to get the low dust formula of GreenFiber. We just blew insulation 2 weeks ago and used the regular GreenFiber from Lowes. "It's dusty" is an understatement.
Try to get the low dust formula of GreenFiber. We just blew insulation 2 weeks ago and used the regular GreenFiber from Lowes. "It's dusty" is an understatement.
Thanks, I will look for that.
BTW, Is it okay to put the cellulose (Green Fiber) over white blown in fiberglass?
Try to get the low dust formula of GreenFiber. We just blew insulation 2 weeks ago and used the regular GreenFiber from Lowes. "It's dusty" is an understatement.
You are absolutely right. I just did this Friday. This stuff was dusty beyond belief. If I could do it over again, I wouldve used blown in Fiberglass or batts. Blowing in 90 bags of this stuff was just a bad idea.
Unfortunately, most of the reviews I read didnt even mention the dust problem. I shudder to think of having to go back up in my attic again to add electrical wires or do anything. Itll be another mess of dust.
To the OP, use something else. Thats just my recommendation. If youre adamant about using this stuff, make sure you have the best face mask that actually fits your face and SEALS good, good eye wear, and perhaps even a full body plastic suit just to keep yourself clean.
I think using another product would work just as well if not better while saving you a mess of dust vaccum up. Itll take me another day or two to clean up all the dust from this Greenfiber nightmare.
One thing that helps tremendously when doing this is to also seal up any penetrations such as can lights or pipes or wires. A lot of air can escape through those (and your attic stair, if you have a drop-down model like I do) so it's wise to seal them up as best you can.
You can even add fibergalas over it to increase the value.Just make sure they do not block any overhang venting so the attic breathes properly to aviod mositure buildup.
the dept of energy suggests an r value of 49. That is a depth of 18 inches.
The green cellulose insulation settles, you lose r value, use the owens corning attic cat insulation from loews.
Key things when insulating ur attic, ddont bury ur soffit ventilation, this allows your attic to breath, cool air in the attic in the winter stops heated air from melting snow causing ice dams, dont bury recessed lighting, fire hazard, build 20 inch boxes around them, use great stuff to seal around cracks in framing around chimneys and ventilation pipes, any questions please felll free to ask
I did this back in April (Lowe's, green fiber). I added about 12 inches in most areas and 15-18 inches in another. Since I had little insulation to start with, it was the best $400 I spent. Job is not that bad.
Here is a good insulation tip that will make it a lot easier:
Tape a broomstick to the end of the hose. Now, you can hold the broomstick and just aim the insulation (effectively lets you reach an extra 5-6 feet (depending on length of broomstick).
For my attic, this allowed me to stand in the center of the attic (width-wise) and just aim the blown fibers to both sides of the attic. I then could walk down the center line of the attic and still be able to reach all areas of the attic space. No need to crawl around ductwork.
This made the job super easy. To be honest, I think when I we were done blowing insulation, my helper at the machine was more exhausted than I was.
A few other tips:
Wear a dust mask.
Turn on an attic fan if you have to help move out the dust.
Get a headlamp. This was very useful. I had no lighting in my attic. It also keeps one hand free since you don't need a flashlight. (example: Coast TT7497CP H7 Focusing Headlamp w/ VLT, Black Body, LED)
Bring some method to communicate with your helper (or just tell them to stop after every X bags for a breather).
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