Galen Boyer wrote:
On Sun, 26 Mar 2006, wrote:
Blow it in, figure easily 20% settling in your rating. What is up
there now
The first layer is a mixture of blown in and fiberglass batt. But none
of the batts have the vapor retarder (is this called moisture guard as
well?) and there also no plastic between the floor and the insulation,
blown in or fiberglass.
The second layer of insulation is laying on top of a bunch of free wood
planks which are laying perpendicular to the joists, all in very poor
condition and some showing signs of a previous fire. This second layer
of insulation was seemingly "strewn" in and for some reason the wood
wasn't removed (Seems like a total fire hazard to me and my friend I
talk about below). I have taken almost all of the second layer off and
removed almost all of the wood. (Man, oh man, what a job that is.
Sweat under the googles dripping because of the mask blowing into the
goggles. About 4 bags of insulation and I'm outside undressing my head
and toweling it down)
I had a friend stop up and give me a recommendation. He said I should
take it all up and lay down the fiberglass with vapor retarder facing
the floor and then a blanket of fiberglass perpendicular to that. I was
planning on taking the second layer off no matter what, but this first
layer is going to be a killer.
Any recs on a rental commercial vacuum cleaner for things like blown in
insulation? Can something like that be rented and is it small enough
for one man to handle? If so, I'll go hunting for one.
, some houses can experiance constant dust issues going to blown in
cellulose. Fiberglass batt wont deteriorate over time or settle as
much as old newspapers will.
I'm dreading it, but I think I'm laying down fiberglass after taking up
the first layer. Ughh!!!
Thanks.
Wow. You may need to take up the first layer, but
before you do that think about what you have. You
didn't mentioned the age of the house or how it is
built. Is this an old house? If so, is the
ceiling well sealed with oil paint? If you answer
yes to either of those, the several layers of
paint probably constitute a moisture barrier. If
so, you don't need to remove the first layers.
Even if the ceiling paints are not oil,if you have
plenty of ventilation in the attic you can get by
with no moisture barrier. The whole point of the
moisture barrier is to keep the insulation dry and
with adequate ventilation it will stay dry even if
moisture rises through the ceiling materials.
If you decide you need a moisture barrier consider
placing 3 mil plastic down (over the joists with
plenty of slack between joists, and replace the
original first layer materials filling the
cavities to the top of the joists. Consider
adding back some (unburned) boards across the
joists to make moving around easier; I would put a
screw in each end and into the joists so the board
doesn't move.
The rest is more or less correct, i.e., lay
unfaced fiberglass batts crosswise to the joists.
There is no need to throw away any of your
insulation materials. Don't forget to provide
adequate ventilation in the attic.