My in-laws would like to install some interior insulation. Would appreciate any recommendations for the Austin area. Thanks!
You buy the cellulose & get the "free blower rental" (if you purchase enough cellulose) & me & my crew will install it + baffles for the soffit vents. If you don't have enough or the right kind of vents, I'll tell you what you need to do to raise your circulation & NFA (net free air) rating.
Have you ever installed the foam insulation that adheres to the bottom of the roof? Isn't this the best way to go?
Rox, are you referring to insulation that's blown into walls (not roof)? That's what they're looking for.
Blown cellulose is a loosely packed cotton ball looking product that comes in large bags that you cut open & then toss into a hopper. The hopper is part of a fan / blower system that pushes the cellulose through a long, wide hose system & into the attic... usually a measuring tape or yard stick is used to determine how deep you've got it & depth = higher R value. Deep isn't always a good thing or required, though. A properly balanced whole attic system consists of a solid intake source (soffit vents, for example) combined with exhaust PLUS good insulation. The intake cannot be blocked with insulation or you have wasted money & can actually cause excessive humidity in the attic which in cold weather can actually cause the underside of the decking to sweat & weep. It's usually a 3 to 4 man operation; 2 in the attic (one working / directing the hose & one helping to feed the hose along) with 1 or 2 working the hopper / bag end.
Okay, I don't think that's what they want. All of the interior walls in their house are hollow, so they want to blow in insulation to help with noise absorption. If anyone has ever done this, I would appreciate any info. Thanks.
Then they want something like this or this[/url. Both are great for thermal and sound transmission insulation. I can put you in touch with the local (Austin) supplier of each if you're interested.
So, if this is an existing home then y ou'll need to pull down the sheetrock, add insulation of choice, then put the sheet rock back up... tape, float, texture again. I would think this is going to be cost & time prohibitive for all rooms in the house, so just 1 or two? The other option with blown cellulose is to try & pack it down *not too tightly* between the walls from the top. If you want to go the "remove sheetrock" route & insulation batts will work, then we can assist in this as well.
I did a little research on this a while back, Retrofitting is a pain in the *** is the main component.... YOu can cut out a long horizontal stip of the sheet rock close ot the ceiling and blow in the insulation then reseal the sheet rock. the blown in will settle over time but you will get some sound dampening to be sure. I wanted to do one particular wall and thought the other option might be to drill a hole and buy a **** load of that "great stuff" expanding foam insulation and spray it in. You could NOT do this by filling up one gap and then moving ot the other. You would have to do a little at a time in each gap so the foam could expand without bmaking big bulges in the sheet rock. The downside here is that those spaces are basically toast for running any new electical or other wiring in the those walls. What sucks is during the buildout the cost would have been a couple hundred bucks and super easy. good luck- I have also hear of people adding insulation by creating a new layer of sheetrock over some of the sheet insulation but I don't know if that works well or not.
Btw, if they are in Texas a much better solution is to make sure the roof and attic are properly ventilated and there is sufficient insulation there. Then, if windows and doors are properly sealed that will go a long way in reducing energy costs on the house. However, adding insulation in the walls is still a good idea.
LF68, that's exactly what I mentioned above... you can sometimes hurt yourself with added insulation in the attic by creating a space that will weep & condensate. Their primary reason, however, is for sound baffling & I think they want it in the walls between rooms, not exterior.
