Monday, October 27, 2014

Why I Want to Use Blown-In Insulation in the Attic

I replied to a comment from Uncle Bill today:
I did think about buying rolled batts of insulation. Two problems made me think blown-in was a better option: 1) The entry access to our attic is small. I barely fit through it, and a lot of the rolled batts are wider than I am. 2) There are a lot of joists in the way, and maneuvering around those joists to unroll batts would dramatically increase my odds of putting my foot through the ceiling.
I also talked with my Uncle Gary, who has spent most of his career working on residential homes, about the difference between fiberglass and cellulose insulation. Our existing insulation is fiberglass and because of that, he recommends sticking with fiberglass. Apparently cellulose insulation is heavier than fiberglass and would compress the existing insulation, robbing it of a lot of its insulating value. He also agreed with the workers I talked to at Home Depot, saying that the cellulose insulation tends to settle over time.

In his own attic, Uncle Gary used fiberglass batts, and he recommended that above everything else if I had easy access to the attic. But he said with limited access to the attic, blown-in fiberglass was probably the best way to go (as long as I had a tyvek suit, face mask and safety goggles).

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