DIY Insulating

[N80]

After 5 years of underpowered window units and pain in the rear kerosene heaters I finally had central heat and air installed in my cabin.

Of course it has zero insulation underneath or in the attic space and I guess I need to do it. I have no idea what I need or how to do it.

I would appreciate any pointers you guys can give me. The cabin is 900 sq feet and used primarily on the weekends so energy efficiency is not a huge priority. So I don't know what R values I need. It is located in the south. Lows in the low 20's on occasions. Highs, like today, near 100. The unit is a heat pump, all electric.

Attic has trusses, floor/crawl space has typical joists.

Thanks.

 

[BTDT2]

Lowe's now carries a white fiberglass blow in type insulation that I was very impressed with. My attic looks a little like snow drifts, after adding to existing insulation. I got a little carried away with depth in some places, but we can tell the difference in unit cycling (heat and a/c),, and our electric bill. Buy enough and you get free rental of the machine. Ask whoever you don't like to keep the hopper full and sit on your butt in the attic and spray the stuff like a nozzle on a garden hose. It's so light and flies so far, you might want to sneak some liquid refreshment up there, because the hopper person has all the work.:thumbsup:

 

[smstonypoint]

George,

I live in SC too, and I wouldn't want to spend anytime in a SC attic until next November, if then. Given a choice between feeding the hopper and being in the attic, give me feeding the hopper between March and October.

I would get recommendations and bids from reputable insulation companies.

Steve

PS. I wouldn't relish the thought of working with fiberglass batts in a crawlspace, especially if it has limited headroom.

 

[RadarTech]

N80,

I did all the the insulation for the attic and basement in our house in WNC. I did it by myself...

The arctic cat insulation I used was really easy to use.. I did the upstairs in 6 hours or so even though I had to run and down stairs and had to pull the machine apart to put the chain back on the gears..

anway, the machine I had, you took the "shrink wrapped" insulation and cut the package in half and put in half and used the cutter blade as it was pushed in...
Once I got a motion down, I could feed a package in in less than a minute...

Now if I had help I could have done that in half the time..

900 sq ft... should take less than 2 hours from initial blow to pullng the hose out of the ceiling... UNLESS you have something other than an open ceiling...


Lowes' has these free paper things you can staple to the joists with reccomendations on how deep to make the insulation.....



give them a visit..

J

 

[Travelover]

Just a tip - know about all those nails holding down the shingles? - well, the pointy ends are all sticking out on the underside of the roof, just waiting for your head to glance against them. Don't ask how I know. :laughing:

 

[RadarTech]

N80---
is this the cabin you had pictures of in the post:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/163875-rare-snow-cabin-picture.html

Great looking cabin BTW..

It looks like there really is not any room in the attic...


As a second thought for the crawl space you could use that sheet insulation...

whatcha think???



J

 

[timswi]

Blow in for the attic would work (don't cover the soffits, need airflow)...You'll probably need spray foam or bat with a covering for underneath if it's not a basement, if it is..bat will work fine.

 

[N80]

Yes, that's it. There is lots of attic space over the bedrooms. There is less over the high ceiling in the great room but it is still easy to move around up there between the scissor trusses.

I had not thought about blowing insulation in. I just assumed I'd use the rolled stuff and unroll it between the trusses in the attic.

 

[dave1949]

Yes, that's it. There is lots of attic space over the bedrooms. There is less over the high ceiling in the great room but it is still easy to move around up there between the scissor trusses.

I had not thought about blowing insulation in. I just assumed I'd use the rolled stuff and unroll it between the trusses in the attic.

That can be harder than blowing. The fiberglass catches on everything and you want it fit snuggly between the trusses. There will be fiberglass dust all over in the air, so wear a mask and long sleeves. Ditto for blowing. I'd take Steve's advice a make it a late fall/early winter project.
Dave.

 

[RadarTech]

as for timing...
depending on the size of space to be done at one time... you could do it now..


If you can get TEG's attention he uses they paper coveralls for painting....
Skivvies and paper coveralls would be cooler than jeans and a long sleeve shirt..


J

 

[dave1949]

as for timing...
depending on the size of space to be done at one time... you could do it now..


If you can get TEG's attention he uses they paper coveralls for painting....
Skivvies and paper coveralls would be cooler than jeans and a long sleeve shirt..


J

You have a whole different concept of 'cool' in NC I guess.
Dave.

 

[RadarTech]

You have a whole different concept of 'cool' in NC I guess.
Dave.

:laughing:
I guess I should be glad you were so kind in that reply....

Well let me add--
I have lived in the desert of California, visited Arizona and lived in a tent in the summer time desert heat. worked in and lived in tents in snow and lived in the Charleston SC area....

to me, heat is not that bad when you plan for it and be careful...
an old friend actually had icepacks he wore when we were in the desert....
it was a cloth bag thing that sweated cold...

kinda cool, but weird..

J

 

[dave1949]

:laughing:
I guess I should be glad you were so kind in that reply....

Well let me add--
I have lived in the desert of California, visited Arizona and lived in a tent in the summer time desert heat. worked in and lived in tents in snow and lived in the Charleston SC area....

to me, heat is not that bad when you plan for it and be careful...
an old friend actually had icepacks he wore when we were in the desert....
it was a cloth bag thing that sweated cold...

kinda cool, but weird..

J

I lived in a hot desert area in Iran for two years, and have visited Phoenix,AZ in the summer quite a bit. It takes some getting used to for me. Cold never seems quite as stressing as heat. That said, I have no snow tenting plans.

Years ago before AC in autos, people in the desert would hang canvas bags of water on their front bumpers - same effect as your friends ice pack bags.

Dave.

 

[RadarTech]

I lived in a hot desert area in Iran for two years, and have visited Phoenix,AZ in the summer quite a bit. It takes some getting used to for me. Cold never seems quite as stressing as heat. That said, I have no snow tenting plans.

Years ago before AC in autos, people in the desert would hang canvas bags of water on their front bumpers - same effect as your friends ice pack bags.

Dave.

My snow camping and desert camping were not my choice....
it was for training...

Cold only bothers me when my feet get cold or my hands numb... the rest is ok..


J

 

[kennyd]

Get some quotes first...When I built my house 6 years ago I could buy the materials alone from HD or Lowes for what a company charged me to do it-and they did it in one day!

Also-you can do some harm in the attic if not done properly like adding baffles to the soffit vents...

 

[dave1949]

Also-you can do some harm in the attic if not done properly like adding baffles to the soffit vents...

Yeah. I meant to ask what you have for a vapor barrier. They are real important in colder climates, don't know about yours.
Dave.

 

[N80]

Right now we're working on the hottest June ever. Ever! It has been over 90 for 13 days in a row, no end in sight either. Near 100 yesterday. In August we'll need fire suits.

I've lived in a lot of hot places in the South including Florida. So far, none compares to Columbia, SC. Lou Holtz described Columbia as a screen door away from ****. Combine 96 degrees and 96% humidity and you just can't get cool. You sweat profusely but the sweat does not evaporate because of the high humidity. When sweat does not evaporate it does little or nothing to cool you and you end up wearing wet heavy cloths and getting dehydrated. When i played high school football in Columbia we took water breaks every 10 to 15 minutes and at the end of the 2 hour practice some of the bigger linemen would have lost 15 pounds! We weighed before and after practice. If you'd lost weight it meant you did not drink enough.

Anyway, I might look into getting a pro for this. It sounds like a job that is simple enough but pure misery. Might be worth the expense of farming it out. The AC guy gave us a name.

Edit: Didn't know we couldn't spell out the place that the devil lives but those asterisks above refer to Hades.

 

[Barton]

Seal the air leaks before you insulate. There is a lot of info on the net.

 

[IslandTractor]

Anyway, I might look into getting a pro for this. It sounds like a job that is simple enough but pure misery. Might be worth the expense of farming it out. The AC guy gave us a name.

A good insulation contractor can deal with a cabin attic in a few hours. They can cost less than renting the equipment and paying retail for blow in insulation. Got a tax credit too.

I'm in New England and as heating costs go up we periodically upgrade our insulation. I think we have about two feet of blown in cellulose on top of rock wool at this point. If I recall correctly we paid about $900 to have the cellulose blown in in a fairly large attic space and it literally took them a couple of hours to finish.

One other point is to consider air leakage. Maybe a bigger issue for heat than A/C but it doesn't make sense to have R50+ in the attic if there are unsealed holes where pipes and wires exit living space into the attic.

Finally, ventilation can help a lot. I noted that Costco now has solar powered attic vent fans for about $300. One of those could lower attic temps in the daytime by 10-20 degrees which would certainly help too.

 

[N80]

Air leaks? Guys, this is a cabin I built myself. It is mostly air leaks.

Seriously, this is just a weekend place, efficiency is not a big issue. Also, heating is less of an issue here anyway. For one thing it doesn't get that cold that often, but, the logs really really hold onto heat. On a sunny day it can be in the 20's outside and still comfortable inside in the late afternoon and even a while after dark. Of course it can be in the 30's and cloudy and it will be cold inside all day.

Anyway, I'm looking for a bare minimum approach. But I might caulk a few of those places where I got lazy or negligent and forgot to put a dowel between the log ends through which you can now see daylight.