please don't shoot me but I'm wondering if someone can give me some general idea about
steps to improve my attic insulation

here's the general background. Due to summer heat, I plan on waiting until temps
moderate into the low 70's and I would like to do all the work myself. Attic space is
about 3-4ft in center where the insulated ducts run and I wanted to add insulation but
don't want to use cellulose or fiberglass (blown in) but some type of insulating
blankets or radiant barrier.

is it normal to remove the old insulation? I could possibly find a protective suit
(one-time use available?) and breathing mask and just start cleaning slowly each sq ft
of the attic and once completed, pickup the blankets from home depot or lowes and lay
these down.

my desire would be to remove the old stuff as it's about 30 years old and can't have
fared too well plus the occasional rodent visit and the house has at least twice
undergone a whole roof replacement so there is debris and dust everywhere.

give me some general steps in this, again, I would like to do this myself as I have
the time and desire to learn how it's best done.

This is doable for a novice do-it-yourselfer. So good luck. Do get a
suit -- there are cheap semi-disposable suits at hardware type stores,
used for everything from painting to insulation work. And definitely
wear gloves and mask. And the rodent leftovers are bad for your health
of course, but very especially bad for pregnant women (risk of
miscarriage due to LCM disease, etc.), so keep that in mind.

I can't say if you should remove your old insulation, but don't remove
it just because it is old, or "dusty". Waste of time and money. It
would make sense to remove it if it's compacted, full of rodents, etc.


Nina Harris wrote:
please don't shoot me but I'm wondering if someone can give me some general idea about
steps to improve my attic insulation

here's the general background. Due to summer heat, I plan on waiting until temps
moderate into the low 70's and I would like to do all the work myself. Attic space is
about 3-4ft in center where the insulated ducts run and I wanted to add insulation but
don't want to use cellulose or fiberglass (blown in) but some type of insulating
blankets or radiant barrier.

is it normal to remove the old insulation? I could possibly find a protective suit
(one-time use available?) and breathing mask and just start cleaning slowly each sq ft
of the attic and once completed, pickup the blankets from home depot or lowes and lay
these down.

my desire would be to remove the old stuff as it's about 30 years old and can't have
fared too well plus the occasional rodent visit and the house has at least twice
undergone a whole roof replacement so there is debris and dust everywhere.

give me some general steps in this, again, I would like to do this myself as I have
the time and desire to learn how it's best done.

Nina Harris wrote:
please don't shoot me but I'm wondering if someone can give me some general idea about
steps to improve my attic insulation

here's the general background. Due to summer heat, I plan on waiting until temps
moderate into the low 70's and I would like to do all the work myself. Attic space is
about 3-4ft in center where the insulated ducts run and I wanted to add insulation but
don't want to use cellulose or fiberglass (blown in) but some type of insulating
blankets or radiant barrier.

is it normal to remove the old insulation? I could possibly find a protective suit
(one-time use available?) and breathing mask and just start cleaning slowly each sq ft
of the attic and once completed, pickup the blankets from home depot or lowes and lay
these down.

my desire would be to remove the old stuff as it's about 30 years old and can't have
fared too well plus the occasional rodent visit and the house has at least twice
undergone a whole roof replacement so there is debris and dust everywhere.

give me some general steps in this, again, I would like to do this myself as I have
the time and desire to learn how it's best done.

Get an estimate for having the existing covered with more blown-in
type. Could be cheaper than you buying the bats and installing it
yourself.

As Kevin said unless it is compressed or filled with droppings no
reason to remove it. The loose fill insulation will do a better job
than you will be able to with bats or blankets. You need to fill in
between the joists or you are defeating the purpose of the insulation.

On Wed, 16 Aug 2006 17:44:24 +0300, "Nina Harris"
wrote:

please don't shoot me but I'm wondering if someone can give me some general idea about
steps to improve my attic insulation

here's the general background. Due to summer heat, I plan on waiting until temps
moderate into the low 70's and I would like to do all the work myself. Attic space is
about 3-4ft in center where the insulated ducts run and I wanted to add insulation but
don't want to use cellulose or fiberglass (blown in) but some type of insulating
blankets or radiant barrier.

is it normal to remove the old insulation? I could possibly find a protective suit
(one-time use available?) and breathing mask and just start cleaning slowly each sq ft
of the attic and once completed, pickup the blankets from home depot or lowes and lay
these down.

my desire would be to remove the old stuff as it's about 30 years old and can't have
fared too well plus the occasional rodent visit and the house has at least twice
undergone a whole roof replacement so there is debris and dust everywhere.

give me some general steps in this, again, I would like to do this myself as I have
the time and desire to learn how it's best done.

It sounds like you may be trying to reinvent the wheel.

I assure you that what you have now is a thousand times better than a
radiant barrier.

"kevin" wrote in
ups.com:

This is doable for a novice do-it-yourselfer. So good luck. Do get a
suit -- there are cheap semi-disposable suits at hardware type stores,
used for everything from painting to insulation work. And definitely
wear gloves and mask. And the rodent leftovers are bad for your health
of course, but very especially bad for pregnant women (risk of
miscarriage due to LCM disease, etc.), so keep that in mind.

I can't say if you should remove your old insulation, but don't remove
it just because it is old, or "dusty". Waste of time and money. It
would make sense to remove it if it's compacted, full of rodents, etc.


Nina Harris wrote:
please don't shoot me but I'm wondering if someone can give me some
general idea about steps to improve my attic insulation

here's the general background. Due to summer heat, I plan on waiting
until temps moderate into the low 70's and I would like to do all the
work myself. Attic space is about 3-4ft in center where the
insulated ducts run and I wanted to add insulation but don't want to
use cellulose or fiberglass (blown in) but some type of insulating
blankets or radiant barrier.

is it normal to remove the old insulation? I could possibly find a
protective suit (one-time use available?) and breathing mask and just
start cleaning slowly each sq ft of the attic and once completed,
pickup the blankets from home depot or lowes and lay these down.

my desire would be to remove the old stuff as it's about 30 years old
and can't have fared too well plus the occasional rodent visit and
the house has at least twice undergone a whole roof replacement so
there is debris and dust everywhere.

give me some general steps in this, again, I would like to do this
myself as I have the time and desire to learn how it's best done.



It would make sense to remove it if it's compacted,

I've gone up in attics where it's fairly flat from having stuff stored on
top of it, extreme settling, etc. and just taken a long handle 3 prong
garden tool to break and fluff it to get air space back in it. Seems to
make sense to do this since that's how insulation works.

"Nina Harris" wrote in
:

please don't shoot me but I'm wondering if someone can give me some
general idea about steps to improve my attic insulation

here's the general background. Due to summer heat, I plan on waiting
until temps moderate into the low 70's and I would like to do all the
work myself. Attic space is about 3-4ft in center where the insulated
ducts run and I wanted to add insulation but don't want to use
cellulose or fiberglass (blown in) but some type of insulating
blankets or radiant barrier.

is it normal to remove the old insulation? I could possibly find a
protective suit (one-time use available?) and breathing mask and just
start cleaning slowly each sq ft of the attic and once completed,
pickup the blankets from home depot or lowes and lay these down.

my desire would be to remove the old stuff as it's about 30 years old
and can't have fared too well plus the occasional rodent visit and the
house has at least twice undergone a whole roof replacement so there
is debris and dust everywhere.

give me some general steps in this, again, I would like to do this
myself as I have the time and desire to learn how it's best done.




Why don't you want to use blown in cellulose? You and a buddy rent a
blower and buy the bags of material. If you buy like 15 bags, HD will
waive the rental fee. You can get a lot of additional insullation up
there for a fairly small amount of $.

But yes, if you can get an estimate to have it done, it may be close to
$ it would cost you since they get materials deeply discounted. And if
they step off the truss then they pay to fix it.