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BizB
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Warm and cozy
2007-01-15 |
At one end of the attic, the previous owner's cat used the insulation as its litter box. When the summer heat warmed (baked) the attic space, the smell was unbearable. Here's the spot where the stupid cat peed... a lot.
In addition to the cat pee smell, there was also a lack of any kind of depth to the insulation in there. As you can see from this picture, the insulation doesn't even come up to the top of the 2X6 ceiling support boards.
So, armed with the tools of the day, rubber gloves and a breathing mask, I set out to bag up the old insulation.
I started at the far end and worked my way back toward the door. I also had to pull up the boards that formed the floor boards just inside the door. 
All the insulation has been removed at this point. I really didn't expect to find anything under the old insulation, but it's fun to imagine that you might. All I found was some old cigarettes 
The next step was to lay down some vapor barrier. I bought a 100' X 8.5' roll of 4 mil clear plastic. 
I stacked the boards for the floor along the wall. I stapled the plastic to the cross beams as I went. 
Rollin' rollin' rollin' 
With the south side of the attic done, it was time to move over to the north side. Looks good, doesn't it? 
*sigh* My knees were really beginning to hurt at this point. but, I must endure. Mustn't I? 
Rollin' rollin' rollin' 
100 of plastic later, I came up about 3 feet short. Wouldn't you know it? 
For future reference, 100 feet of plastic, when rolled out over 2X6 boards spaced 16" on center will end up covering 58 feet of attic space... in case you cared. Now, both sides are covered with vapor barrier!  
This morning, I went to Lowe's and picked up the insulation and the blower. Then, I picked up my helper from PrincessB's house where she spent the night, yesterday. We set up everything and ran a test bag. For the first bag, I manned the blower and BBCK handled the hose. 
I didn't have any idea how much area one bag would cover and I neglected to tell BBCK how deep to make it. She did well just the same. She wasn't fond of breathing in paper dust, so we switched jobs for the next few bags. BBCK was great at loading the hopper. 
And, she still managed to get quite covered with paper dust, just the same. 
I took a break after a bit to see how many bags we had used. This is what it looked like. when I stopped. 
That was only three bags of insulation in that picture. THREE! According to the bags, I could achieve an R30 with nine inches of coverage. One bag, at that coverage rate, should cover 25 square feet. My attic is 7' by 30' on each side. 14 * 30 = 420. 420/20 (because I wanted better than an R30)= 21 bags. I bought 25 because, like I said, I wanted better than R30. Plus, I planned to blow the insulation under the floor of the bedroom. But... that was 3 bags! Three bags covered about 1/2 of one side of the attic with a depth of about 9 inches. So, I guess I needed to make it deeper! BBCK and I took turns manning the hose/hopper. Though, she really didn't have a lot of fun doing the hose because her mask didn't fit tight enough.
How deep did I go? Well, see for yourself.  That board you see leaning up against the wall... that's resting on top of a 1X8 which is resting on one of the 2X6 cross beams. So, it looks like about 14 inches!
Same depth, or perhaps slightly deeper on the north side of the attic, too.  
As you can see, there's no soffit venting in this attic's design.  I didn't worry about blowing the insulation into the corners, because that wasn't going to block any air. I have to install some kind of venting at both ends of the attic in order to create some cross ventilation. Once that's done, I'll be in much better shape.
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 BizB Fri Jan 26 08:13:38 AM
Chris - avoiding me is not making me any happier. Call me.
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BizB Thu Jan 25 03:48:46 PM
Her ears were causing the agony. She had a cold and she wasn't able to pop her ears.
She chewed gum.
She chewed ice.
She tried to pop them.
She did everything we could think of. The descent was miserable for her.
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 revitup314 Thu Jan 25 03:31:03 PM
Oh, my! What happened to BBCK to bring the tears and pain on the plane?
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 Betty Boop Thu Jan 25 12:25:18 PM
okay. I'll try to be a good girl and wait patiently without nagging. Do you remember "are we there yet?"
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BizB Thu Jan 25 07:55:14 AM
No. I haven't decided on dates, yet. In fact, I haven't even decided on mode of transportation. BBCK said she doesn't want to fly. I can't blame her after the tears and pain on the last flight. However, it's not looking like I'll have purchased a car that's good on gas by then.
I haven't talked to BBCK's mom about extending the vacation 2 extra days, either.
I've been in a bit of a funk lately and motivation has escaped me. I've got other things on my plate that I need to address before I can even think about vacations.
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Betty Boop Thu Jan 25 07:16:02 AM
Blurry Baby is back!
Rev - typing is good - since that is all I can do too, I feel it is more important than all that other tech stuff the guys do!
Biz - do you have your dates yet for your visit with us? I'm getting anxious and I know it is too soon but can't help myself. miss you all. Ma 
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revitup314 Wed Jan 24 10:44:55 PM
Thank you sopops - I'm too stupid to know how to do it. Sorry, Biz, the postings will have to come from 'fer or pops. I only know how to type.
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 sopops Wed Jan 24 03:41:30 PM
I will scan it and send it to you
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BizB Wed Jan 24 03:36:13 PM
Someone should post it on MissMBH.com!
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Betty Boop Wed Jan 24 12:58:22 PM
Biz - I'm getting a pix of Miss M - Brittany took it at the party and Chrissy had it enlarged and Henry mailed it out. Now I will have one for the top of my entry cabinet.
Hope you got home safely - we can't help but worry when you travel in the winter but know you are a good driver - it is all those other nuts out there!
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Betty Boop Fri Jan 19 03:41:58 PM
We got the birthday video yesterday and Miss M is certainly growing - taller and sweeter every time we see her. Special hugs to BBCK from both of us.
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BizB Thu Jan 18 08:09:23 AM
Ah! Yes, it is insulated, but there's less than 4 inches worth of insulation. I suppose it couldn't hurt to staple some more up there. However, doing that would probably cost me as much as doing the entire blown-in-insulation job. I'd have to investigate the potential ROI.
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sopops Thu Jan 18 07:27:29 AM
javascript:pop('vbcode.html','640','600')
change the way your posts appear
make that the second picture
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sopops Thu Jan 18 07:26:44 AM
I believe the knee wall to be the short wall to be the short vertical wall to the right in picture three and it looks like it is already insulated.
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 coach td Wed Jan 17 06:16:35 PM
If you think I've got insight about how your (or any)girl decides things.........
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BizB Wed Jan 17 02:31:47 PM
Coach TD - BBCK just mentioned the other day that she wants to get back into the habit of running so that she'll be ready for track in the spring.
Why did she wait until the temps dropped below freezing to mention this?
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BizB Wed Jan 17 02:29:13 PM
Where? What the hell is a knee wall?
Should children witness child birth?
Due to a power outage, only one paramedic responded to
the call. The house was very, very dark, so the
paramedic asked Kathleen, a 3-year-old girl, to hold a
flashlight high over her Mommy so he could see while
he helped deliver the baby.
Very diligently,
Kathleen did as she was asked. Heidi pushed and
pushed,and after a little while Ricky was born. The
paramedic lifted him by his little feet and spanked
him on his bottom. Ricky began to cry.
The paramedic then thanked Kathleen for her help and
asked the wide-eyed 3-year old what she thought about
what she had just witnessed.
Kathleen quickly responded, "He shouldn't have crawled
in there in the first place......... smack his ass again!"
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 BigBro Wed Jan 17 02:02:46 PM
you might want to add some wall insulation at the knee walls. it will make the upstairs warmer.
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coach td Tue Jan 16 11:48:10 PM
Hey! Be careful with that paper dust! I have big plans for that young athlete. 
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BigBro Tue Jan 16 03:38:20 PM
Do you have a vented soffit at your eaves? If you have a vented soffit for air flow up through the attic space the blown in insulation is now blocking that air flow. Because of that the eaves might get too cold and have ice dams creaping up the underside of your shingles. When the ice melts it runs down into the attic and onto your ceilings. Watching This Old House has been a must since I started my project. The guys on the show added a foam baffle between the roof joists to keep the air moving by keeping insulation from touching the underside of the roofing. I don't know why the ice dams would be a problem with no air flow but...
Opps I just finished reading the whole thing. Never Mind...
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Betty Boop Tue Jan 16 03:29:33 PM
Oh, how can she get any cuter? (top pix) My label for this one is "Are you talking to me?
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