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Old 11-24-2008, 07:55 PM
 
23 posts, read 168,181 times
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I need to put in more insulation in over my garage. I've been reading about blown insulation, but was warned I need to be careful becasue there's no regulation and I can easily be scammed. They sell you a certain grade and amount but only blow in 1/2.
Anyone have any recommendations of kinds
How do I go about finding someone reputable, I live in Michigan
Thanks
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Old 11-25-2008, 03:15 PM
 
24,834 posts, read 37,193,863 times
Reputation: 11538
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lagarden View Post
I need to put in more insulation in over my garage. I've been reading about blown insulation, but was warned I need to be careful becasue there's no regulation and I can easily be scammed. They sell you a certain grade and amount but only blow in 1/2.
Anyone have any recommendations of kinds
How do I go about finding someone reputable, I live in Michigan
Thanks
I had my old house done and I love it. I found a contractor by using the list approved for the HUD programs in my county.
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Old 11-25-2008, 05:52 PM
 
Location: Fuquay-Varina
3,999 posts, read 10,801,134 times
Reputation: 3303
You should have 12-14" of blown fiberglass insulation covering the entire area. I believe it is 6-8" if they use cellulose.
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Old 11-25-2008, 09:38 PM
 
3,020 posts, read 25,672,075 times
Reputation: 2806
Default You can just do it yourself

You can just buy the insulation from one of the big box stores like Lowes or HD. If you do, you will lend you the machine to blow it in yourself.

Each bale has some data on it that allows you to figure the amount to buy. Is one sure fired way to know you are getting what you paid for. Should be cheaper than any contractor too.

Blown in is a great way to insulate but some of the contractors that do it are a bit on the miserable side. It ain't difficult to do, especially if you are doing something like an area over an attic. Just be sure to wear a respirator, long sleeved shirt. It is a bit like watering the lawn with a hose, stuff just comes out in a stream. You spray it around to cover the area as disired.
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Old 11-27-2008, 07:13 AM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,701 posts, read 79,330,237 times
Reputation: 39408
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lagarden View Post
I need to put in more insulation in over my garage. I've been reading about blown insulation, but was warned I need to be careful becasue there's no regulation and I can easily be scammed. They sell you a certain grade and amount but only blow in 1/2.
Anyone have any recommendations of kinds
How do I go about finding someone reputable, I live in Michigan
Thanks
That is a problem. We had insulation blown in and they appear to have mostly just sprayed insulation on the floor and on the ground to make it appear as if they did the work. there was a lot of insulation on the ground and ont he floor (that I had to clean up). Later, I found huge portions of our house with no insulation whatsoever. The company was called ThermalTech. Not sure if they are still in business (I hope so, because I need to sue them).


I discovered that it is not terribly hard to do it yourself. You can rent the machine at Home depot and just follow the instructions. The most difficult part is patching all the holes. Since woodpeckers attacked out siding, we had a lot of ready made holes that we needed to patch anyway.
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Old 12-27-2008, 07:01 PM
 
3 posts, read 15,453 times
Reputation: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lagarden View Post
I need to put in more insulation in over my garage. I've been reading about blown insulation, but was warned I need to be careful becasue there's no regulation and I can easily be scammed. They sell you a certain grade and amount but only blow in 1/2.
Anyone have any recommendations of kinds
How do I go about finding someone reputable, I live in Michigan
Thanks
hire a licensed contractor. sign him to an agreement in which YOU must be satisfied the job is done properly, and you will do an infrared test which must meet some objective standard of performance. pay him after the test is good. also, if you can, hold a little digital camera up inside the space and get photos.

in the infrared test they blow in hot air - into the garage or the space above it - and look for leaks with an infrared camera. that will show how well the insulation is or isn't woking. also use a radiant barrier and a water vapor barrier.
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Old 12-28-2008, 08:45 AM
 
Location: Knoxville
4,705 posts, read 25,182,234 times
Reputation: 6128
While I agree that an infrared scan might tell you where temperature loss is, I think that having that test done is just not worth the money.

It is very easy to just go into the attic and look at the job when they are finished. You should see a uniform surface and you can measure the depth near the access point. It's kind of like looking at freshly fallen snow (except it might be pink).

If you decide to do it yourself, be careful not to cover any vents at the soffits or eaves.

You can also watch the people doing the job and count the bags too. It's pretty easy to figure out how many bags your house will need.
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Old 01-13-2009, 07:28 PM
 
3 posts, read 15,453 times
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those are good recommendations, spider
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Old 01-14-2009, 11:09 AM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,701 posts, read 79,330,237 times
Reputation: 39408
We had the infra red camera test done and it showed nothing. Openin up the walls revealed huge areas with no insulation at all.
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Old 01-28-2009, 04:42 PM
 
3 posts, read 15,453 times
Reputation: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens View Post
We had the infra red camera test done and it showed nothing. Openin up the walls revealed huge areas with no insulation at all.
why do you think the test showed nothing? is it possible the test was done improperly? maybe the equipment wasn't calibrated, or wasn't functioning? maybe some other condition wasn't right, such as the temperature differential between the outside and the inside wasn't big enough?
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