Friday, July 17, 2009

Pre-insulation Installation

After doing much research and getting several quotes for insulating the attic and master bedroom walls, we've reached a decision.

1. We will not be insulating the bedroom walls.

2. We're insulating the attic with what we believe to be the best product on the market, and it's a green product called Icynene.

The reason we have decided not to do the bedroom walls, they will need to drill a hole every 18 inches from ceiling to floor board to inject the insulation, and neither of us are ready for that mess. Instead, we think we'll try to tweak the furnace to pull the air into the bedroom, but that's another post for another day.

So, the product is called Icynene, and it's a spray foam which expands to the roof of the attic in seconds. We believe (and research seems to back up our thoughts) coating the roof with this product will keep heat out in summer, and cold out in winter, to make the attic very close to the house temperature. Now, Michael knows more about this, and I've been pestering him to write a post, but alas, nothing. So, you get to hear from me. Want to know more about this cool sounding product? Check out http://www.ecotecinsulation.com/

We need to have 5 1/2 inches of Icynene sprayed on the surface, and there are 2 ways we can have this product installed; either directly over our joists in the attic, or by building up the joists with 2x4's, and having the foam sprayed between these joists, thus leaving the beams exposed. The pros of adding the wood, if we ever want to drywall the space, we can. And considering we want to use it for a ton of storage, the less likely my head will poke through the foam, since it will be covered. So, we're gearing up for this fun construction project.

So, before anything can be done, we need to add quite a bit of wood to our attic. In the summer.
Granted, we've had what I believe has been the coolest summer since I can remember, but I'm sure that will change the day we head up to start this work.

First order of business? But a cordless drill. Michael has been drooling over this cordless drill, so I can see that purchase in our future. Next, measure and purchase all necessities, wood, screws, nails. Finally, say goodbye to our nights and weekends for the next month or so. Currently, Peoples Gas plus the Federal Government are offering rebates on this work. But, in the case of the gas company, it's offered until the money runs out... so, we're sort of in a bit of a hurry to get this done.

Also, the reason I'm typing this post at this ungodly early hour? Because I lost the bet and won the bad side of the bed last night...

1 comment:

Wendy Hutson said...

WOW! Awesome post! Let's start with the gable mounted ventilators. It's one of the popular types of mechanical vents to install. For one, it's among the easiest ones to install and can dramatically increase air flow. This type of mechanical ventilator is installed inside an existing non-mechanical vent, which is also the gable vent. In fact, in most cases installing this requires no carpentry at all but make sure you have some electrical skills to connect them to an electrical outlet.
Thanks!