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"

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).


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"?

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.


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.



You've got 1080 sq ft. I happen to have recently priced batts at Lowes.
Eleven 2x4' 13" R30 in a pack (88 sq ft) for $66. That's seventy-five cents
per sq ft., or $810 for your house. Plus tax.

Call it $1000.00 for materials, delivery, misc.

You should be able to install these, yourself, in a week-end.