removing wood shavings from a attic

[chum]

we live in a old story and half farmhouse and would like to remove the wood shavings and add new insulation and update the wiring any ideas

 

[stuckmotor]

:welcome:Are the shavings mixed in with the insulation?
Do you want to leave the old insulation? I saw an ad for a company that wanted to remove the old insulation and replace it with clean insulation?
How much of the work do you want to do yourself?
Now, the big question:
How did the wood shavings get in the attic? I can only guess that someone was using a handplane up there.

 

[dave1949]

Welcome!

A typical 1-1/2 story house doesn't have much room for insulation. I am assuming you have a low, narrow attic space in the center, sloped ceilings following the rafters down to a knee wall?

Spray foam would give you the best R-value for the space you have for insulation, plus it creates a good vapor barrier at the same time. To do it well, you would need to expose the rafters.

 

[Looking4new]

:welcome: from northern Ontario.

My self I would get 'blown in' insulation and just put it right on top of what you got.

As for the wiring....that is a huge job. You might want to talk to an electrician about that one.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would think something along the line of a leaf vacuum with a 4" diameter hose would pull out those wood chips. Anything that wont go thru a hose that size would have to be removed by hand or left in place. As for the wiring, you could hook the new wire onto the old and then pull out the old wire if it is not weaved in place so bad that it wont pull. Rewiring an old house is a major undertaking as is insulation. One can almost build a new house cheaper than fix up a 100 year old house.

 

[GPintheMitten]

If you are serious about it, I would empty the second story of all furnature, carpet etc. Put plastic or the stairway then gut the ceiling and walls. Then rewire It maybe new windows while you are at it then spray foam.

If you want more depth for insulation or venting and have enough height in the room you could add a strip of wood on each rafter.

Then new drywall.

Is the roof in good shape?

 

[MossRoad]

we live in a old story and half farmhouse and would like to remove the wood shavings and add new insulation and update the wiring any ideas

Just make sure those wood shavings aren't vermiculite.

 

[jel1988]

Listen to MossyRoad if it's vermiculite you could contaminate the entire house with asbestos. Tackle the electrical first, if you insulate over old knob and tube wiring you could cause a fire. Once the electical work is complete then give us some more details on how the house is constructed (type of house, age, size) and we can give you the best path.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Definitely need to determine if there is asbestos.

Is there access to the attic? Is it like a cape cod?

 

[not2old]

If you are serious about it, I would empty the second story of all furnature, carpet etc. Put plastic or the stairway then gut the ceiling and walls. Then rewire It maybe new windows while you are at it then spray foam.

Just be careful before you start. I got part of my education the hard way. I built a new house in 1996 and was $15,000.00 under budget when the drywall was complete and then relaxed too much. I ended up $100,000.00 over budget on a $650,000.00 house. I usually try to learn from other people's mistakes and give advice freely, but don't get upset if they ignore it.