On Jan 20, 2:59*pm, (David Combs) wrote:
Am a bit confused about how one does insulation in the
attic. *I read here that for some attics, you insulate
the roof, and for other types, you do the floor.

Something to do with whether or not it's vented, I think.

Our house, 2-story (storey?), roughly 1940 or 35, has, we
believe, very little insulation.

I've heard that if the attic is all buttoned up, no air
from the outside flowing through, in THAT case one
insulates the roof -- between the rafters.

And, if there is flow, eg via soffits, then you do the
floor.

Is that true? * and WHY the "rule"

No. You apply the insulation between the rafters if the attic is
finished and heated. Otherwise, the insulation goes between the
ceiling joists, with the vapor barrier facing the interior. If you
did it the other way around, by not having adequate insulation at the
ceiling, you're letting heat travel from the living space into the
attic space, which is a waste. In essence, you'd be partially heating
the attic.

Depending on what you already have there, blown in insulation may be
a good choice. Or fiberglass batts. Curious as to why you say you
believe it has little insulation. It should be relatively easy to
figure out, no?




Our attic has NO soffits -- but it does have an attic fan,
maybe a yard in diameter (the circle made by the blades),
with louvers to the outside (fan blowing air out opens
the louvers).

Soffits venting to let air in, combined with a ridge vent or other
vents up high, eg gable vents, to let it out is best. If you have
no soffits, you should have some other vents for the air to come in
and then go out via the attic fan. But before an attic fan, you
should have good natural ventilation, ie enough places for the air to
come in and go out. You may be able to add soffit or other venting.





Now, I had mentioned to a self-employed light-construction
guy that I was interested in maybe insulating the house (at THAT
time oil was 100 a barrel or so!)

And he said his brother did insulation.

So, just 30 minutes ago, unannounced, they rang the doorbell.

The brother went up into the attic (roughly 15 by 8 yards in area,
via my stepping it off), and came down and said he could do
it for $12,000. *(I had seen a show on the history channel's
modern marvels titled "insulation" -- how they made the stuff, etc
etc, and 10 min on doing a house -- sure looked easy nailing
that stuff up between the rafters (with plastic air channel
between it and the wood, avoiding moisture, etc)), so that
sure seemed a lot to me, and I said so.

He then said that he could do it, if we did it RIGHT NOW, for
10K$. *Still too much, I said.

Then he said that his men weren't busy this week, and that if
we did it RIGHT NOW (ie tomorrow, for maybe 4 or 5 days work)
he could do it for $8,500.

--------------------

Not considering the quality of his work (who KNOWS what it
might be!), are those dollar figures in the "ballpark"?

Total rip off. Ballpark, I'd say it's more than $5k too high Trust
your eyes and what you saw on TV. Go down to HD and price out the
insulation. You can do it yourself. They even rent the blowing
gizmos to do the blown-in type.





And, is his statement that you do the roof, not the floor,
correct?

(man, that tv show made it look easy!)

But he said it's a LOT of work -- no, you don't staple
it up, nor those plastic air-flow things -- you must
SCREW THEM IN, CAREFULLY. * etc.

That's BS. You staple the baffles and insulation. But as previously
discussed, in an unheated attic, you don't want it in the rafters and
you don't need the baffles. Except you would use baffles for the
first couple feet down by the soffit vents, if you had them, to keep
the insulation from blocking the soffit vents.


It's my wife's house, and she'll be back from work in
three or so hours -- what, from you guys, do I suggest
to her? *

Haven't had time to get alternate bids yet -- will try to
do it via phone-only, asking for any wild-assed guess
they might have.

THANKS FOR WHATEVER YOU CAN COME UP WITH, advice, info,
etc.

DAVID

(PS: re those windshield wipers, bosh site says that theydon't nave
them for ford focus 2000. *But another site says they do! *Confused!)