Insulating the Attic
April 6 - 8, 2007
Easter weekend 2007 will certainly remain in our minds as one of the weirdest
weekends ever, weather-wise anyway. It was COLD! And it snowed off and on all
weekend. Fortunately, although there are a few kinks to work out, the heating
system does work. Thank goodness. I don't think the temperature rose above
30 degrees Fahrenheit all weekend. But enough whining about the cold...
The primary goal for the weekend was insulating the ceiling. Mike chose to use
US GreenFiber cellulose insulation. It is loose-fill insulation consisting of at
least 80% recycled paper products. Newspapers and stuff. It is not installed in
sheets, it is blown in. Lowe's sells the stuff. They rent the blower machine, too.
Lowe's in LaVale is small and has only two machines, which you can't reserve.
So we had to get there early. How early? We left around 5:45, I think. We were
on the way home from LaVale when it started snowing. By the time we had
gotten halfway back to the homestead, it had stopped.
Before the new insulation could be blown in, Mike had
to remove the insulation he had laid on the ceiling last
Fall in our seemingly never-ending struggle to stay warm.
Cellulose insulation is packaged the same way they sell
peat moss and, on a smaller scale, small bricks of vacuum-
sealed, ground coffee. It was my job to open the bags and
fill the hopper. Note the nice, white breathing mask?
Here's how it looks in the hopper. Blades in the hopper break up the clumps
so the stuff is blown out of the hose loosely, creating a giant dust cloud.
The machine comes with a 100-foot hose. It worked surprisingly well.
Lowe's does rent the machine out, but you get to use it free if you buy at least
20 bags of insulation. We used 30 bags to cover the ceiling of the main house.
We'll need at least 15 more when it comes time to insulate the future bedrooms.
I couldn't take too many pictures because I had to keep the
hopper filled and clog-free. Here's one of Mike manning the hose.
You can see he looks a little dusty. The work was actually going pretty fast.
It's sort of hard to see, but here's how it looks once installed.
Did I say he looked a little dusty? I took
this picture when we were about 60% done.
The insulation came out of the hose with surprising velocity.
This is a pretty cool close-up of the cellulose shooting out of the hose...
.. and spraying across the ceiling.
It worked really well and was easy, but it sure was a dusty mess.
There's dust in his hair, and his eyelashes and eyebrows.
See the layer of dust on his hat? And look at the mask!
I didn't get nearly as dusty as Mike did. But I am really,
really glad I had a mask. If only I had had gloves, too.
Wearing a shirt that is the same color as the insulation helped.
There were a few spots in the house that we didn't cover with drywall
last weekend. We had a bit of leakage. This was the worst spot, but there
were several others. It was a real mess. Unlucky for the dogs who were
napping while we were working, this leak was right over their beds. So they
got dusty, too. I was wondering how their heads got so dirty while they slept!
After we finished blowing the cellulose in, Mike used the sheets of
insulation for the exterior walls, which is what it was intended for in
the first place. We really had only put it in the attic temporarily.
Our last chore was to cover the insulation in plastic sheeting.
We didn't feel like putting sheeting up everywhere. It was, after all,
a holiday. So we lounged around on Sunday morning, relaxing for a change.
The place really is coming along. Next week, we are scheduled to put
drywall on the walls. But we may not have the materials yet. So I am not
sure what we'll be doing. Hopefully it will be warmer weather!
I really don't mind the cold. And I love snow. But I an REALLY anxious
to bring my motorcycle home so I can trade it in for a new one.
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