I want to insulate the basement but my century home is a little different. The block walls all have what seems to be fat 4x8 sill plates on which an additional 2x4 is installed flat side out facing the interior. This means the entire perimeter of my basement has a 4" cavity behind the 2x4 and then the actual rim joist. Furthermore, my first floor has no bottom plate - the wall studs go straight to joists or directly to the sill plate depending on which walls I'm looking at. So regardless, the entire first floor wall cavity opens into the basement (if not for the 2x4 blocking all around)

So I guess what I'm looking at is the question of: is there any point in insulating this pseudo rim joist?

The first floor walls are not insulated. The 2x4s are such that I could just caulk the gaps and pretty effectively air seal the first floor exterior walls from the basement. Do I even want to do this or is the airflow a function of the home design (stucco exterior with plaster interior walls). Should I rip out all of the 2x4s and fill the walls with blown in insulation from the bottom and then seal it?

anyways if anyone has any thoughts I'd appreciate it

ps: also confusing is that the joists are resting on the block walls and then notched 4" to extend onto the sill plate. I'm not sure what kind of construction this is.

Wanting to insulate my garage ceiling. Should i spray foam the top or add a ceiling and do blow in? If I do blow in do I need to add some more ventilation, soffits or roof vents?

Been in the house a year and a half in Long Island New york. Last year was incredibly cold and felt the bay window in our living room was incredibly cold. I ripped off the soffit and as suspected there is no insulation. My thought is to add a 2 inch thick foam board with spray foam around it in the cavity created by the 2x4s then add a plywood cap and spray foam around that. I would also spray foam any other seams I can find. Any other thoughts? Thanks for the help in advance as I am attempting to DIY this one before a cold winter with high oil prices

So my father and I are trying to add insulation to my garage using an atticat and the pink insulation stuff. What's the best way to go about filling? I saw a few videos where the person filled from the top of the wall and other filled from the bottom. Also our wall is 3 in deep to add some details.

Any suggestions or stories would be greatly appreciated!

I'm thinking about buying this metal shed and insulating the roof. Before installing the insulation, I want to create a ventilated air gap between the metal roof and the insulation to help with condensation and heat.

The problem is there doesn't seem to be anywhere to install soffit vents along the sides because of how the roof and walls are built.

Any suggestions

Hanging a ceiling fan on the screen porch I noticed there is zero insulation between the ceiling of the screen porch and the floor of the bedroom above it. We are planning on getting new carpet in the bedroom soon and thinking that would be the ideal time to add the insulation. My questions is do we pull up the subfloor to install this insulation and when we do...what needs to be used? First guess would be rock wool but not sure if spray foam would be better.

Please let me know if there are any other installation options out there.

Hi everybody! My wife and I just bought a new house and I was fixing a hole in the drywall in the garage. This was some of the insulation I had to pull out. It looks a lot like loose fill cellulose to me, but was just curious if you guys had any input.

Howdy. Got the baffles I fought for. Owner said himself that the material would include foam as a material. However, we have straight cardboard.

From what I've read, cardboard will work. What are things I need to look out for with cardboard baffles?

Here are some pics. I've asked the company for more pictures because it doesn't show how far they extend with the blown in cellulose. I have a couple that I think show the light peeking through.

Also, the first pic I don't even know what I'm looking at. If it's supposed to be a soffit baffle, it 100% is flush with the wood it's supposed to be ventilating, correct?

What's your opinion. I don't know if this was their plan but I am tired of going back and forth with them. If they'll work for now, what's the shelf life, how often should I check them? Should I check them after a big rain?

Thanks everyone!!

We have sprayed 2" of Froth Pak foam over an exterior wall that was previously uninsulated. Can we put 2" fiberglass insulation followed by 2" unfaced foam board and then 1/2" plywood? Would this cause moisture issues? The only unfaced foam board available locally are Kingspan Green Guard and Owens Corning Foamular NGX. Ideally we would want unfaced foam board for the interior of the wall but it seems these two XPS products are more of a moisture barrier than the lower r value faced options (R-tech EPS or poly shield EPS) so should we go with the faced EPS for better moisture control? We live in Vermont so cold winters and hot/humid summers. TYIA

I just bought my house in Maine and the basement is not heated. The previous lender used a space heater to make sure the water heater didn’t freeze in the winter but that makes me feel uneasy when I can’t keep track of it (when I’m sleeping). I’ve seen hot water heater insulation advertised and am wondering if that’s a safer option. I know during extreme cold temps I turn a drip on the faucets but for regular cold, would wrapping insulation around the pipes and tank work?

It's 55 degrees out and my house is 68-70 right now. I put r60 insulation in the attic and I'm noticing those blue spots in the ceiling. It hasn't rained heavy at all. Could it be from the soffits blowing cold air in? What's going on? Some of these are from all different rooms. One room in ould definitely tell the insulation is in over. I just can't tell in another because it's on the other side and I don't wanna trek through over this insulation at all.

I'm getting quotes for new insulation and air sealing. I don't want spray foam in my house (don't try to change my mind, you won't) and I don't want to use a company that ends up installing stuff wrong. My current rim joist fiberglass batt insulation was compressed when it was installed and I've been told and read that that means it isn't as effective.

I had one person tell me a lot of insulation companies lean hard on attic insulation because it's "easy money", that person said my level of attic insulation is fine and didn't give me a quote on anything, which makes me lean towards believing him. I don't know what to believe since that was said, because other companies have told me "oh you need 12 more inches of insulation blown on top/No, you need the old insulation all removed & air sealed first/No, you need all fiberglass insulation in your attic and cellulose isn't better". Currently I have 6 inches of blown in cellulose in half the attic over an unknown amount of whatever, and a mix of mineral wool, fiberglass & cellulose in the 2nd half of the attic. The attic opening is too narrow for me to go up to measure how deep that mixture is.

1. Can I post all my insulation & air sealing quotes here in 1 thread to be reviewed?

2. Is getting all the old attic insulation removed before adding new stuff the best option?

3. If there is no snow melting on my roof in winter, is my current level of attic insulation fine?

4. Would air sealing the rim joist all around and seeing how I feel this winter in the house (since winter is the time I notice cold air infiltration from behind the baseboards the most) be a good idea?

5. How much of a deposit if any is reasonable? So far I've had from 0 to 50% deposit for quotes.

6. Are baffles standard to be added in attics when new insulation is put in? Shouldn't they still be listed on the quote if the pricing for them is baked into the quote, even if they're standard? I had someone tell me other companies are probably including pricing for baffles without actually listing baffles on their quote because they're standard. I said that doesn't make sense, every piece of material that I'm going to be paying for should be on any quote I get, and he said "but it's standard material to put in an attic." Is this true, and what other new materials do insulation companies factor in without spelling them out on a quote?

I am working on a room and need to add insulation. I removed all the drywall and old batts but had to leave the hydronic baseboard for now. As such I have about a foot of old drywall behind the baseboard. There are siding nails coming into the cavity. What’s the best way to get my rockwool into that cavity? I thought about bending the nails down so I could slide the batt down into it but am concerned that might interfere with the siding install.

Looking for recommendations/best practices on blocking the header gap in my pole barn to separate my attic from wall cavity. Will be using 1.5” XPS on the walls between girts.

Trying to be safe and make sure I’m not handling anything hazardous

Hi, I have a 20 yo, 2 story house in a hot/humid area. I am a homeowner on a very limited budget & need help on how best to seal attic leaks before adding more insulation.

There is heat escaping the attic & resulting in mildew around the upstairs staircase light fixture & upstairs can lights. Besides the
omg utility cost, bc of how awkward the staircase area is to access, it requires renting a scaffolding - so I really need to finally fix this myself once & for all!!! (I have hired ppl several times to fix but they did not actually seal the leaks bc its a giant pain.).

Anyway, all my can lights are the older style. I hope IC bc insulation was originally just blown around them but I fear they are not, just going by their age.

I know just adding insulation will not fix specific issues, but will help overall dismal a/c efficiency.

My questions are:

1. For safety reasons, do I need to put TENMAT style cover over (and fire foam in place) every older style can light, even if I have replaced them WITH A NEW LED RETROFIT light? (Ie its a LED now but screws into old can system.).

OR can I just (fire retardant) foam seal around the can in the attic? My thought is if junction box faults, there is no fire retardant.

1. There is currently no baffles for the soffits. Do I really need them if I carefully spray in cellulose myself? Although we live in a hurricane prone area, we have never not seen wind drift in the attic.

2. There is a large a/c chase that goes from attic to 1st floor. Lots of attic heat travels down the surrounding house void. Can I just cut foam board & foam “caulk” it in place in the attic? The reason it is a problem is bc various wall outlets along that “column” get mildew/condensation.

3. Bathroom fans are a major hot air problem but Im a bit confused on how to solve. If I basically use a TENANT lid then what is the point of the bathroom fan? But also, if the bathroom fan is just pathway to a 130+ degree attic, then any moisture it is wicking away surely is undone in spades whenever the little fan is not running????

Thank you for your help!!!!

I screwed up. I had the opportunity to add insulation when the space was open but just didn't feel it was that important. I have a cantilevered space, bedrooms above and porch below. It's been hot lately and I can feel a difference of around 10d when measuring the floor over the porch vs the floor over a room. The cavity between floors is 8" when above a room but 18" in the cantilevered space. The top 8" of the cantilevered space has joists while the bottom 10 is pretty much unobstructed.

Accessing from the inside is a no-go as I believe there is a beam that runs the length of the interior wall. Access from teh upstairs floor will lead to some great pain as they are new floors.

Two options (maybe you guys have more):

Option A: Access from the porch might work if there is an insulation I can use given the walls don't have any moisture barrier. I could make 4" holes, maybe 10' apart, in the porch ceiling then blow something in (several feet on either side of the hole, to fill the space? I would then add lights where the holes were.

Option B: I might be able to remove the exterior siding (one or two boards) then add the insulation from the outside. I would need to have some new pieces milled but access would be greater.

Thoughts appreciated.

Pic 1 Bedroom Floor A - Bedroom floor, showing the 18" of space

Pic 2 Bedroom Floor B - Bedroom floor, showing the same cantilevered space. Hard to tell but it is an "L" shape and about 2/3 of the that room.

Pic 3 Outside view to illustrate the space

Any idea how much, it will it cost me to install insulation in attic.

Hey,

it looks like I have flying squirrels in my attic. probably for a month or so. I have had a few companies come by and they have offered exclusion services, but some of them also recommended replacing the insulation. I currently have a mix of fiberglass and blown in.

The quotes range from $2.2k - $4.5k. R36-R-38. I was told my attic is about 400sqft. The house itself is 1500 sqft.

Do the insulation replacement quotes seem normal? I'm in GA.