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December 29, 2008

Rowhouse needs roof insulation

I have a 2' space between roof and the ceiling of my 2 stories high row house (built in 1910). The space has no insulation. I tried to pull a fiberglass insulation from the roll but it proven too dificult. Did anybody managed to do it? What are the alternatives? I would prefer to insulate it myself, but if this is job for a professional, who would you recommend?

If everything else fails, I will try to get a radio controlled car and pull the fiberglass in place with the remote control. :)

Also the door to the roof and the skylight have some gaps. Does it waste a lot of warm air?

Comments

you can have insulation blown into the gap space through a few small holes drilled in the ceiling. we did it and as i recall it cost around $1,500-$2,000.

Posted by: z at December 29, 2008 2:14 PM

Federal Conservation...google it or look in previous insulation listings

Yes, the skylights waste a lot of heat. have a piece of plexiglass installed at the top. You also need roof vents once you insulate

About $2,000 for the average brownstone including roof vents

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at December 29, 2008 2:28 PM

I love your idea of using an RC car, but I doubt that it'd have enough power or traction to pull fiberglass bats.

I had cellulose insulation blown in over 30 years ago and it's worked very well. The installers got access to my cock loft by removing a metal plate a previous owner had put over a large access hole inside my roof closet.

I was a little concerned that the fireproof treatment of the cellulose might have worn out after so many years, but when I had some electrical work done in my top floor ceiling last winter I took a handful of insulation that fell and tried unsuccessfully to set it on fire.

Posted by: Bob Marvin at December 29, 2008 2:48 PM

Any gaps around anything will, to use your terms, waste a *lot* of hot air.

Take heart. I generally prefer to do things myself. But in this case blown insulation is relatively inexpensive, and is so much more effective than fiberglass batts that you are going to make up the difference in no time.

Posted by: vanburenproud at December 29, 2008 3:41 PM

You can rent the blower and buy the cellulose from Home Depot. The blower they rent is not strong enough for dense pack cellulose but you can blow it in and pack it with a 2x4 as you go. This works just as well.

You could also possibly put foam board poly iso. That would be the best insulation in terms of R value and price but I'm not sure you could fit it up there without cutting more of the ceiling.

That is what I did here:
http://ecobrooklyn.com/inserting-insulation/

If you want to go that way I am selling my overstock insulation.

Gennaro Brooks-Church
ecobrooklyn.com

Posted by: gennaro at December 29, 2008 6:03 PM

If you blow in cellulose yourself, remember daveinbedstuy's comment about roof vents. Since you can't install a vapor barrier you could have serious condensation problems without vents. Personally, I'd want those installed by a roofer becaused of potential leaks, but I guess mushroom vents could be a DIY job if you're very handy (or brave).

Posted by: Bob Marvin at December 29, 2008 7:43 PM

Gennaro Brooks-Church,

Would foam board insulation be safe installed in a cock loft?

Posted by: Bob Marvin at December 29, 2008 7:45 PM

Bob,
Are you talking fire hazard? When I say foam board I mean Poly ISO foam board insulation which is fire proof.

Posted by: gennaro at December 29, 2008 9:41 PM

That's what I meant--I was unaware that fire proof foam was available--thank you.

Posted by: Bob Marvin at December 30, 2008 10:27 AM

thanks for comments. I followed your advice and found company "JC Home", which will do the cellulose insulation for $2100. Despite the fact, that I already have two vents, rep suggested to include two more vents on the roof. Maybe it is a mistake.

Posted by: bobjohn at December 31, 2008 8:57 AM

OP: Did the $2100 estimate include patching holes required to blow in the insulation??

Posted by: SenatorStreet at December 31, 2008 10:15 AM

SenatorStreet: they say that they will cut holes in the roof for wents and then will use these holes to access. So the vents installation will patch the access holes. As I mentioned in another post, I most likely will go with Federal conservation which will use loose fiberglass.

Posted by: bobjohn at January 2, 2009 1:55 PM

SenatorStreet: they say that they will cut holes in the roof for vents and then will use these holes to access. So the vents installation will patch the access holes. As I mentioned in another post, I most likely will go with Federal conservation which will use loose fiberglass.