As the saying goes "If you want something done right, do it yourself." It seems cover more and more aspects of our lives. For me it recently involved correcting builder screw ups.
Our house is only 5 years old and it already needed the attic insulation topped off. Everything seemed fine when we first moved in, but as the years progressed I noticed an increased difference in temperature between the upstairs and downstairs.
Last year I went up to the attic to investigate the situation, as two of the rooms upstairs, which were also the coldest, started to develop slight mold at the celling. Turns out that there was very little insulation above these rooms and in some section the vapor barrier was totally exposed. These were the areas that developed mold because condensation was developing on the vapor barrier and finding its way though it.
My attic is insulated with cellulose blown in insulation, so I understand some settling took place, but it doesn't change the fact that the further I got from the attic entrance, the thinner the insulation layer got. I'm not blameless in this situation, as I did not go up in the attic during my inspection, only looked through the entrance. Still, it does not excuse the builder, especially since it was "inspected" and passed to the latest building codes (which is another can of worms altogether).
To remedy the situation, I got 12 bags of AtticCat fiberglass, blow in insulation along with their blower from HD last weekend. It was quite an easy DIY project and the whole system seems to be design for this kind of thing. Aside from dragging the hose, light and a measuring stick through my attic, that looks like an obstacle course for gymnasts, everything went smoothly and quite fast. I prepped everything in the attic a day before, so the actual blowing in took only about 2 hours. My rental sheet said I had the machine for 3h 5 min total.
I should also mention that I did not have to repair my celling afterwards.
So far the temperatures upstairs and downstairs seem to be very close together, about 0.5-1C, where before it was over 2C. I also expect a bit of savings during the heating and cooling seasons, but overall comfort is what I was really after with our children sleeping in these rooms.
Our house is only 5 years old and it already needed the attic insulation topped off. Everything seemed fine when we first moved in, but as the years progressed I noticed an increased difference in temperature between the upstairs and downstairs.
Last year I went up to the attic to investigate the situation, as two of the rooms upstairs, which were also the coldest, started to develop slight mold at the celling. Turns out that there was very little insulation above these rooms and in some section the vapor barrier was totally exposed. These were the areas that developed mold because condensation was developing on the vapor barrier and finding its way though it.
My attic is insulated with cellulose blown in insulation, so I understand some settling took place, but it doesn't change the fact that the further I got from the attic entrance, the thinner the insulation layer got. I'm not blameless in this situation, as I did not go up in the attic during my inspection, only looked through the entrance. Still, it does not excuse the builder, especially since it was "inspected" and passed to the latest building codes (which is another can of worms altogether).
To remedy the situation, I got 12 bags of AtticCat fiberglass, blow in insulation along with their blower from HD last weekend. It was quite an easy DIY project and the whole system seems to be design for this kind of thing. Aside from dragging the hose, light and a measuring stick through my attic, that looks like an obstacle course for gymnasts, everything went smoothly and quite fast. I prepped everything in the attic a day before, so the actual blowing in took only about 2 hours. My rental sheet said I had the machine for 3h 5 min total.
I should also mention that I did not have to repair my celling afterwards.
So far the temperatures upstairs and downstairs seem to be very close together, about 0.5-1C, where before it was over 2C. I also expect a bit of savings during the heating and cooling seasons, but overall comfort is what I was really after with our children sleeping in these rooms.
