On Feb 19, 6:46*pm, (David Combs) wrote:
In article ,

Heathcliff wrote:

As a number of people have pointed out, the estimate appears to be way
way too high. *Insulation is not that expensive and not that difficult
to install. *And almost always it should be installed on the floor of
the attic (between the joists, and/or on the floor if it is floored)
not up by the rafters. *The rafter installation is only if the attic
is occupied (you've got a bedroom or office or something up there)
(which by the way is usually against some kind of local code).

A couple other points - (1) it sounds like you've never been up
there. *

Oh yes I have, lotsa times.

It's just that the hinge in the middle of the pull-down-and-unfold
ladder is looking a bit weaker than it used to, and at 200 lbs,
"the boss" doesn't want me breaking the ladder (hmmm, what about
my back?).

You should go up there and carefully look around. *Even if you
don't venture beyond standing on a ladder with your head in the attic,
you will learn something by looking and seeing what is already there.

A guy went up there and did look around (less than 200 lbs!), said
that under the floorboards there was indeed some insulation, some OLD
OLD insulation, that he said just can't still be much good now.

Also, as in lots of houses, I guess, there's lots of heavy stuff
stored up there on the floorboards. *Not that that's too important,
since there's room to slide it all around, leaving space to do
one part at a time.

FWIW, the inverted-V of the roof comes down SMALLER than the house.
maybe hits the floor 7 or 8 feet from the outer wall.

Again, the only roof-opening is the one for the attic-fan.

No, no mushroom-things on the roof, no soffits, no nothing -- just
the fan (maybe 4 foot in diameter, with louvered barrier to the
outside.

Apparantely it would be a lot CHEAPER to do the roof -- much
less labor. *

FWIW: just today I (finally) ordered books, a hard disk, lotsa
books, AND a
*$99-$58 *"ASIN: B000O80B5M" "Raytek MT6 MiniTemp Infrared thermometer"
from amazon. * Will get here in what, 5 days or so?

So maybe that will help choose what to do?

That knowledge can be helpful when researching the project and talking
to contractors about it. For example it would be good to know how much
insulation is already there. (2) The way this unfolded should be a
lesson. *The fact that the person kept dropping the price and urging a
quick decision should raise a red flag. *A big red flag. Find ways to
get reputable people with references when having work done on your
home. (3) The attic should have some kind of ventilation besides that
fan; for the fan to effectively move air, the air has to come from (or
go) somewhere. *Is there a vent at the other end of the attic from the
fan? *Are there any "mushroom" type vents that stick up from the
roof? *If there really is no venting, that should be corrected in
addition to having the insulation added. * Good luck -- H

Thanks for your comments!

The thermometer will be fun, and will help you pinpoint areas of
concern, but it won't help you determine whether to insulate the attic
floor or the roof.

If there's a chance that the attic might be finished off some day, and
there's enough headroom up there, you might want to insulate the
rafters. Do it the right way. Basically everything the surprise-I'm-
here contractor told you is wrong, so feel free to purge that
information from your memory.

The question of where you should insulate, the floor or roof, comes
down to what you personally want to do with the space, how often you
plan on doing it and whether you want the attic to siphon off heating
dollars from your downstairs living space.

R