So, after living in our house for almost 5 years, I decided to venture up to the attic. Attic = spiders, so I've only been up there one single time before Monday.
I vacuumed the air as I walked so that I was spiderweb free, and got a good look at the insulation. Um... what insulation?
There is some vermiculite up there, and some ancient pink stuff, some with foil back, some with kraft back, some with no back, some mostly gone... but there are MANY places where there is just the back of the plaster and lath ceiling. No wonder it's so darn expensive to keep our house at 55 degrees.
Anyway, using R30 as a marking point because that's the easiest to compare across materials it will cost:
fiberglass non-faced, $10 a roll, 33 sqft a roll, 42 rolls needed, $420
cellulose blown in, $11 a bag, 21 sq ft a bag, 66 bags needed, $733
fiberglass blown in, $30 a bag, 65 sqft in a bag, 21 bags needed, $646
Now, I'm willing to spend more money if there is a reason to spend more money, but will I really get 60% more benefit from blown in cellulose over fiberglass rolls? Or 50% more benefit from fiberglass blown in? Isn't r-value r-value? I understand cellulose compresses over time, so it loses a little, but I'm trying to compare apples to apples here.
And Friday, I'm having someone out to give me a quote on spray foam, just so I know how much I can't afford.
For all of the other issues in the house, air leakage isn't one of them. We don't have drafts upstairs at all really. That was tested a few years ago with one of the big-blower-in-the-front-door things.
I vacuumed the air as I walked so that I was spiderweb free, and got a good look at the insulation. Um... what insulation?
There is some vermiculite up there, and some ancient pink stuff, some with foil back, some with kraft back, some with no back, some mostly gone... but there are MANY places where there is just the back of the plaster and lath ceiling. No wonder it's so darn expensive to keep our house at 55 degrees.
Anyway, using R30 as a marking point because that's the easiest to compare across materials it will cost:
fiberglass non-faced, $10 a roll, 33 sqft a roll, 42 rolls needed, $420
cellulose blown in, $11 a bag, 21 sq ft a bag, 66 bags needed, $733
fiberglass blown in, $30 a bag, 65 sqft in a bag, 21 bags needed, $646
Now, I'm willing to spend more money if there is a reason to spend more money, but will I really get 60% more benefit from blown in cellulose over fiberglass rolls? Or 50% more benefit from fiberglass blown in? Isn't r-value r-value? I understand cellulose compresses over time, so it loses a little, but I'm trying to compare apples to apples here.
And Friday, I'm having someone out to give me a quote on spray foam, just so I know how much I can't afford.
For all of the other issues in the house, air leakage isn't one of them. We don't have drafts upstairs at all really. That was tested a few years ago with one of the big-blower-in-the-front-door things.