Insulation 2.0 - 3 Steps to Re-Insulate
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2019
- Are you wanting to re-insulate your house to save on energy bills? Don’t blow more insulation without watching this video first! Insulation 2.0 goes beyond just a blow & go with insulation. We will show you how to pre-test, how to look for problems, and then we’ll show you the three steps of Insulation 2.0. Suck, Air-Seal, Re-Blow! You will learn some good Building Science in today’s BUILD SHOW… Let’s Get Going!
Hire Stephen and Quincey of True R-Value for your Austin, TX Insulation 2.0 job!
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Over 3 years later, and this is still one of the most informative home insulation videos that I have found for DIYers. It not only tells where to spend time and money but also WHY these tasks are important. Thank you!!!
Wish I knew someone like True-R-Value in Dallas back in the day.. Excellent video! I pretty much did the same but DIY as I couldn't find someone to do exactly this., rented the VAC and removed all the crud in my 1962 rancher to see what was left, and expose the wiring mess. (Part of a bigger remodel). Ran into exactly everything you saw here. Also bought a FLIR.
- Missing insulation bats in some walls
- Bath fans going nowhere (no duct)
- open un-insulated cavities, kitchen suffit, and furnace plenum open up to the attic in closet!
- many wire insulation pieces chewed off by rats
- pancaked ducks / plenum holes! and more
so I foam closed all holes, re-wired the house neatly (easy once the old insulation and duct work was gone) and laid down two layers of Rockwool (R23 between the 2x6 and R15 above for R38). btw, the rockwool has excellent sound proofing benefits as well. being near DFW and I don't hear much inside anymore!
Bath fans were ducted out to the roof using insulated 4" ducts
One thing you didn't mention, but very important is to clear the suffits and add vents if necessary. you need to draw out the hot attic air and you need flow. I added a ridge vent and many suffit vents to get a positive air fow out of the attic (plus radiant sheathing). Attic temps are lower + R38 = House AC hardly needs to run.
Now The house no longer has a musky old house smell and the AC/Furnace cycles very little here in scorching Dallas!
I had an energy audit performed on my house and I paid about $250 for if I remember correctly. I got a FLIR inspection, door blower test, and recommendations that I was able to implement myself. I was considering replacement windows (aluminum). What I found is that for the cost of installing baffles in the attic, and blowing in more insulation, along with installing an attic tent over my pull-down attic entry stairs and replacing caulking around my windows along with a few other items, the cost of the audit was paid for by energy savings in a few months. The attic tent is a must-have if you have a scuttle or stairs inside of the conditioned space. Another thing that Matt skipped over is proper sealing of the HVAC ductwork with mastic, even though he's replacing his system. As a DIY'er, I'd totally consider sucking out all of the insulation in my attic, doing the sealing of all of the top plates, and wire holes through those plates, however I'd wait until the wintertime here in Georgia.
We save clients that $250 almost immediately with simple suggestions
Lets see the FLIR after the sealing and insulation is in.
That would cost you ANOTHER $500-2500. AND be very disappointing!!!
Recovering_Californian I was expecting and hoping to see that too. What I really wanted to see was the ach number after remedies were applied. Airflow is a bigger problem than a hot appearing thermal bridge.
@@tommybaker4330 That iOS Flir is $299 on Amazon. I am surprised Matt does not already own one.
They have more of the remodel that needs to be done before they can show the after. Let’s hope he does the thermal camera and another blower test after that is done.
@@ecospider5 ya
I vacuumed my old insulation with a repurposed Harbor Freight cheap dust collector. I piled it all on one side then used a 2 part kit of closed cell foam to put down 2” of foam and seal everything. I then blew it back over the foam and did the other side. Finished by using a rental blower from a big box to blow in 24 inches of fiberglass on the top. I installed baffles to keep it out of the soffit and allow air flow to the ridge vent. I was very pleased with the results though it was a lot of work.
I was 60 years old at the time and spent around. $1400. About 1300 sq ft.
Before and after blower door number?
Ted Kidd 😂
Stephen Brown Sounds like a solid job. I am doing a similar project but have to take down the lath ceiling. It’s the two upstairs bedrooms in a 100+ year old house that had a leaky roof which is now repaired. But will be sucking out old blown in and discarding. Not sure what way we’re going to re-insulate. Getting a spray foam company in for 600sqft not very economical.
I just read you comments and thank you. My home was built in 2005 and I'm the 3rd owner. I love my home but whoever the builder was sure did cut corners. I've got 1200 sqft of living space and I need to redo my attic. I just did crawlspace encapsulation. I can actually feel the heat from the ceiling in our living room. So air sealing the attic is definitely next on my list.
Bravo!
$4 a sq. ft is exactly why I bought a vacuum and tried to do this myself. Got 1/2 way done before summer. About to start again. Still cost me about $400-$500 in foam cans.
What kind of foam are you using and what vacuum did you buy?
For that kind of money, you could almost have a pro do the work, and get better results.
Insulation vacuums are close to $10,000
Fiber glass can't go into your residential trash bro
@@markr857If the pro is any good. I trust myself far more than some random jack wagon to do a good job.
I took a thermal camera while I was house shopping. One house had a window that was covered up by drywall, no insulation or anything. Window was perfectly visible in IR despite being covered on both sides.
That thermal camera basically paid for itself in one visit. Good for you, Sir!
That's crazy cool
That sounds like American building standards, you guys should stop turning matchstick box’s in to houses.
@@Kewonerdk there are things called code. building the entire house out of concrete would be extremely expensive.
Kewonerdk not thanks, i like to be able to add outlets and change the floor plan without hiring people to remove concrete walls
I did this to my house several years ago myself. Electric company did a blower door test first. I took out all the old thin batt insulation from the attic and crawlspace, used 27 cans of the "Great Stuff" type of spray foam at every penetration I could find (wires, tops of walls, light boxes, newly installed can lights, hvac boots, etc). Added insulation baffles at the eaves, blew in 15" cellulose in the attic and installed new batts in my crawl space. I also caulked every joint I could find inside my house.
Follow-up blower door test cut the leakage by a little over half! The electric company said it was the best they had ever seen by a homeowner, and maybe even by a pro! 😁 They actually recommended I add in a fresh air return to my hvac because it was a little too tight!
Good work!
But what did something like that cost? And what happened to energy bills?
@@michaelrdegroat I spent about $8500 for the whole process, but that included a new hvac system and duct work installed at the same time. I ended up getting $2800 worth of rebates from the electric company through a program they had going at the time. I actually financed it all through the electric company at 3% interest. Their software estimated all my efforts would save about $45 per month. So my bill didn't change much, but about $40 each month is paying the loan off from them.
Did you find someone to come vacuum the old out? How did you find someone for that?
@@brendonwillis5438 No, my old insulation was 35 year old fiberglass batt. I just climbed up in the attic and rolled it up as tight as I could and stuffed it into trash bags. I did the same thing in the crawl space.
I really appreciate a show on improving an existing home instead of building a new one. A lot more people have old homes than are building new! And this gives me hope that I could possibly eliminate drafts in my home built in about the 1880s. I'm curious about air sealing walls and the basement in future episodes.
Nice practical information is what most people need. This video is helpful and makes people think about the money they are wasting if their home is not energy efficient.
He said the series was going to be doing practical remodeling like a person with a practical budget might... then later in the video said he would be changing rooflines.
I concur. I love the new house builds but an existing home is another beast :) This video came at the perfect time for me... hope TX gets our cool front so I can go into the attic.
All well and good, but it will cost $$$$ for all the labor (or hours, hours, hours for you to do it) to suck out the old stuff, seal all the holes, install new stuff. An Ohio contracting firm routinely charges $20-30K for this work.
The worst insulation mistake is using blown fiberglass. The foam guns clog. If you have under-performing fiberglass in your attic, it can be corrected with a seal coating of cellulose insulation.
i wanna see the house with the Flir camera after the air sealing!!
A side by side of before and after screen shots would really drive home the benefits.
Sweet! Blower door as Batman and infrared as Robin!
This is so important as a first step to figure out what to do to your home.
Was let down not to see it as well. 😤
Yeah why no before and after ? Did they check it and not get the results they wanted to show us?
So no one here gets that this house is a demonstration house Matt is in the process of rebuilding and it has not been completed yet! Stop complaining already just enjoy the education and journey.😃✌️
Great video, the detail is helpful for a project I'm thinking about.
One thing I'd add for anyone considering using a thermal camera, from experience with my FLIR, is that all of the colors displayed are relative. There's no calibration to say that a certain temperature is red and another is blue or whatever. It continuously changes the colors every frame, similar to auto-exposure while shooting video on a camera. That means that it's important to look at the absolute temperature reading in the center of the display (not shown on this guy's camera for some reason), to verify that the "super hot" thing you're looking at is actually *hot* and not just *the hottest* thing in the room but in reality only like 1 degree warmer than everything else but the camera still had to assign that color to it.
I think that’s why they stopped looking at the wall, fallowing the window, so quickly.
It's probably too late now if you didn't do it, but in my brothers attic before he added more blown insulation, we built a raised walkway. I think it was a 2x12 raised up 12 inches or so. It helped the insulation installers a low and has also made maintenance type of work much easier. I highly recommend it.
good point. I was wondering how the heck to know where to step after this thick insulation is on the floor.
This has to be the best episode you have ever done on what it takes to re-insulate an older home; great general info, testing techniques, and remediation. Thanks for going to all the trouble of making this video. -- A neighbor in Shreveport, LA.
Great video Matt, I have a 1974 built house in Ohio after watching your show last year I did the same thing, we have a insulating contractor come in and suck all the old insulation out air sealed and blow in 20in of new insulation I seen at least a 40% difference in my electrical bill thanks Matt you have been a great help.
Cost?
I would drive myself crazy if I owned one of those temp cameras.
Wow, you have really shifted your content away from infomercial, back to viewer beneficial. So glad, to see and so worthwhile to watch. Just like in the beginning, except better
Too much bad advice.
Larry Maloney like what?
@@Alex-vt6og, whenever his mouth moves it's bad advice. I'm not a fan of loose blown fiberglass, but there's no reason to remove what's in this attic. The leakage Matt & his buddy are orgasmic about are the result of either installing ceiling fixtures after insulating and not replacing the insulation pushed aside after installing the fixtures, or too little insulation - blown fiberglass is poor at sealing air infiltration. However, a good layer of cellulose insulation on top of the fiberglass will correct the deficiencies, including fiberglass's tendency to lose as much as half its R-value in cold weather. All that "foam sealing" is a waste of money. He's "sealing" top plates that are already sealed with joint compound and when R-49 cellulose is installed heat loss and air leakage is reduced cost-effectively. All Matt is doing is hustling for can foam. Even more importantly, manufacturing foam is very harmful to the planet. Nothing is gained; just harm to our environment. The foam gun will plug after the first usage. What Matt is orgasmic about is seen daily and corrected by insulation contractors. Matt talks the talk but he lacks an understanding of root problems and selects inferior techniques and materials. And it's not "paper insulation," It's cellulose, fire-retardant and insect resistant. It's called "paper" by those who sell competing products. Matt Risinger is jerking the viewers around. Do you have a specific question about insulation?
Larry Maloney
I was curious on the correct way I can insulate my nw Iowa basement that has never had water in it specifically walls and rim joist, without causing myself a mold issue
@@Alex-vt6og, "never" is a long time, unless you bought your home recently. Wintertime ground temperature is generally below freezing and your frost depth is roughly three feet. Deep down the ground can be much warmer so it's not like insulating walls & attics above ground. I'm not a fan of fiberglass but properly installed it will perform well for basement walls because the delta T is low. It's critical the mud seal be caulked (vacuum or scrape clean first.) And then the next critical step is insulating the rim joists sitting on the mud seal (the perimeter.) Fiberglass loses half its thermal resistance in cold weather so a better choice for above-ground rim joists is spray foam or cellulose. The cellulose is much cheaper but it's tedious cutting & stapling webbing to fit along the perimeter walls and between the joists. I suggest a full eight-inch cavity. If you foam it, the spray has a tendency to separate over time. A technique I perfected is to cut a two-inch foam board an inch shorter than each opening. Then hold each in place against the rim joist and fill the surrounding cavity with expanding foam. The result is a nice seal - no air infiltration. You might go two layers of 2-inch foam board, or add depth with cellulose or even fiberglass (acceptable because the R-10 foam is air-tight.) Once the rim joists are sealed fiberglass between studs(offset from touching walls) can complete the walls. The higher level fiberglass is a "weak" spot but much better than what you have now. I'm an insulating fool, a perfectionist, so my favorite way to insulate basement walls, wet or dry is using cellulose, believe it, or not. Before framing the exterior walls to create a five-inch (or so) cavity to hold the cellulose, I first attach ten-foot visqueen to the concrete wall by stapling to the mud seal. The bottom of the visqueen lays on the floor extended for the last two feet. I frame the furring wall and set it in place an inch from the concrete attached to the joists. In a wet basement, I use treated lumber for the bottom plate and even then shim it an inch off the floor. I then wrap those extra two feet of visqueen around the bottom plate so it covers the bottom two feet of the wall studs making a dry pocket for the cellulose, After wiring, I caulk any holes and install the drywall using sheetrock normally used for shower surrounds. The resultant cavities between studs can be dense-packed with cellulose from the bottom plate all the way past the top plate, including the rim joists all at one without all the foaming or other extra work. I do some contract work that has a lower standard. For that, we buy four-foot-wide rolls of 3-inch fiberglass and attach it with pins to the upper four feet of the wall. I don't think much of the practice but some builders meet minimal standards rather than maxing out as I prefer. If you aren't comfortable with cellulose the walls can be filled with fiberglass batting. I personally shy away from foam because in most house fires using foam, the fumes kill before the fire does. As I specked, My insulated basement walls will tighten the house immensely and reduce moist air from leaking in, reducing mold. However, normal living can add buckets of moisture to inside air - from bathing, cooking, clothes washing and everyday living, so, if the above-ground walls or attic, is insulated with fiberglass, moist air can leak in (or out) and the moisture will dro out in the cooler wall. You can correct attic fiberglass by topping with cellulose. You might run a dehumidifier to dry out. And make sure bathroom vents are attached to take moist air outside. Remember, one of several causes of moisture leakage is fiberglass insulation. It simply does not stop air-infiltration. For that reason, code requires using the wrap to help the leaky fiberglass. Dense pack cellulose does not need plastic wrap to help it avoid air leakage, however, beware, the local code may require wrap, anyway. I've retrofitted old homes for many years, few have wrap. The cellulose is such an effective air barrier, the house doesn't know the difference. Why waste money on foam? Educate yourself and save money. Good luck with your project.
I literally have a insulation contractor in my attic giving me a quote, great timing Matt!
The quote to remove the insulation and airseal added about 5k to my quote, how feasible is it to get up there with a Hilti gun and just move aside the existing 5inches of insulation bay by by myself?
@@reedharris2519 Bad idea. Rent a vacuum, buy the bags and suck it out yourself. It's not rocket science. Your bid has a 30% pain in the ass fee built in.
@@reedharris2519 Its easy, just time consuming, follow where the walls are, wires exits, etc.. and airseal. Also, the insulation will be dirty where there are drafts.
@@reedharris2519, just sweep over each fixture to expose. (Wear a face mask & Tyvek suit.) Joint compound and caulk are inexpensive for closing visible holes. R-49 to R-60 cellulose will correct the air leakage and thermal loss not stopped by cheap builder's fiberglass.
@@reedharris2519, 5K? You must be on someone's sucker list. Wear rubber/leather gloves, Tyvec suite, and sweep/rake, push the nasty 'glass aside. Then cover the exposed suspected leaks with cellulose insulation. In fact, cover the anemic blown fiberglass with cellulose to correct its thermal and air-sealing deficiencies. Or, give your money away needlessly if you'll feel better.
did the same 2-3 years ago in Central PA. 6000 HDDs of heating season. We cut our energy usage in like 60%. Our highest heating bill went from 130 USD to about 45 USD in the coldest month (usually some temps at below 0F). Total cost was about 500-600 USD out of pocket. We put in like 18 inches of cellulose up there after sealing everything.
Well worth the time and effort! Why did you use cellulose vs loose fill fiberglass?
I’m in Michigan and need to do the same. House was built in 1976.
@@wjb111 cellulose because it was less itchy, also because when it settles, it makes the area more air tight. Fibergrlass if tehere are air leaks, works in essence like a car filter onnly. so the drafts are not eliminated while with cellulose that happens. Also, more fire resistance.
@@wjb111 I used celulose due to not being itchy. Also more fire resistance according to tests, and also because when it settles, cellulose had more air leakage stoppage (although I did seal all gaps i could find) while fiberglass, any air leaks just lets the air go through.. Well worth the effort. Highest heating bill was around 40-45 USD in winter time - Jan peak. Also we did insulate the basement with 2" foam boards along with the skirt joist of the house and that also helped slightly although the ROI wasn't as good.
Matt you are the only remodeler fixing the envelope! (well besides me :) . Most just throw carpet and paint and flip it, ignoring the key deficiencies with the home.
Great show Matt! We have reinsulated all the homes we ever bought except our current which was super insulated when built. Every reinsulate we did has saved us much cooling and heating costs, made our place more pest proof, and made the home quieter! I love wise investments!
Jo Ellen Broetzmann how long did it take for the investment to pay itself off each time? And what climate do/did you live in?
@@fosterlewis7360 a lot of people are claiming ~40% savings on their heating/cooling bills, so if you take into account your bill, find 40% of it, and then divide the $3000 project cost by that, then that's about the number of bill cycles it would take to pay itself off.
It will vary widely by price of gas/electricity in different areas of the country, as well as by how leaky each individual house is
My bill is approximately $400/quarter, so $1600 per year.
If I saved 40% from this project, I'd be saving 160/quarter, or $640/year.
By the end of the fourth year, I'd be in profit :)
The profit is more than just money, though. My energy comes from finite and harmful resources at the moment, so doing my bit to save it is an often undiscussed benefit.
back in my renting days in Buffalo, NY (very cold) winters, I would tape and plastic all the windows. huge gas bill savings and amazing results from that alone. air sealing really matters.
I think the most important top plate to seal will be the outside wall. Also the hardest one to get to since the roof slope takes away your head room.
‘True Value’ is a great name for an insulation company!
Matt; if there were a place to give you a like- like on this video, I'd be happy! The BEST, almost completely unbiased information I've seen to date!
We have gutted & are now "reassembling" a 1940's house with my son & his wife..(My wife & I have built & renovated several)... Everyone WILL watch this video and it WILL help us hugely with cathedrals, attic hatches, HVAC, wiring... & oh yes.. INSULATING EFFECTIVELY!
Thanks very much for this excellent info!
For those guys that was one tough job vacuuming the attic wearing full body-suits with all that heat and having to bend and hop around on the rafters.
I can imagine, being an attic insulator myself #sinnisjInsulator. Emptied my fair chair of emptying attics.
I liked the pre-test segment but, would like to see the house post-test after the mods and renovations as well.
He tore the house down.
Would love another video like this as many, many Americans are living in horribly built and insulated houses.
I'm remodeling a 70+ yr old house. Sealing up the gaps in the attic is a great lesson to heed. Thanks!
This is such a great series. Thanks Matt!
@Matt Risinger I have a production built home from 2008 in San Antonio, TX and I always assumed I had a tight home until I discovered your channel. This past month I had the highest bill ever. I decided to begin an Insulation 2.0 project myself. What shocked me is when I counted up my ceiling penetrations I had 73. 73! I decided to tackle all those penetrations first and see what an impact it would have. Well today after doing about half of those penetrations over the last three Saturday mornings - my house was the most comfortable it has been all summer - even though it reached 102 degrees today. In addition our indoor humidity was the lowest it has been since I got ecobee thermostats three years ago. Makes you wonder just how leaky these new houses are. When we finish this I am going to blow in more insulation to bring it up to R-60. I figure if I can get a 10% improvement in efficiency all this DIY work will pay for itself in a year and will be more comfortable. Thank you.
The look on Stevens face when you said, "He gave me a free suckout".
Thank you Matt. This episode helps us with old home know what we can do to make them better.
Thanks for talking about the price as well.
I just bought the FLIR One Pro recently, great for this kind of stuff!
Also, it's great for finding my black kittehs at night to get them inside! :)
Matt, this info is great. I was so surprised to see all the fog coming in from that ceiling fan box. I will definitely be caulking around all of those from here on out.
This series is gold! A must have for owners of old construction.
Another fantastic video Matt. This is extremely helpful as I am thinking of remodeling my 1950’s brick veneer home in order to improve its energy efficiency and make it more comfortable to live in. I appreciate you sharing your wealth of knowledge and providing very helpful tips an information 👍
True R-Value is spot-on branding! 👍
In process of getting insulation quotes to finish off our walk up attic. Thanks so much for the video. I’m learning more and more about what questions to ask so I can have it done the right way.
i think your vids are the best of their kind Matt. i live in Bowie, Texas in a 1930s-40s house so, any episodes you can do on fixing up older - smaller houses for the least amount of money will be much appreciated. Thanks
Yes! This is exactly the type of thing I think a lot of us have wanted to see. I just had all my insulation sucked out of one of my attics a couple months ago and spray foamed the underside of the roof, as my hvac ductwork is in that attic space. My other attic, they sealed up the hatch and topped up to 16". Love this!
How is this?. the underside of the roof.. I am 'contemplating' this .. but think i should put in insulation board under the roof rafters - to keep the airflow up on the roof deck itself. .. however putting that 'board' up .. will take a lot of work.
@@lawrenceeldridge1155 you usually spray the roof of an attic that has no incoming air. The idea is to make it a conditioned space. Not heated or cooled but not allowing huge temperature changes. Not heated or cooled but more stable and similar in temp to the interior of the living space. Spray foam is a vapor barrier as well.
@@lawrenceeldridge1155 it really depends on your attic space. Joe Lstibrek says that a vented attic space is better with air sealing and attic floor insulation than an incapsulated attic. But having your HVAC in that attic space makes it better to keep it incapsulated. Because of his furnace in his attic, he has to make the best of a bad situation and seal his ductwork as best he can.
Matt as an avid skier, I did not need that image in my head! thanks LOL
He skis the bunny 👯 hill
Pretty sure he’s gonna needs pants too.
Fantastic video. I did this to my old home. It made a huge difference from bill reduction to comfort. Great content as always Matt! Thanks!!
great video. very informative and it's always good to have a visual example to explain what you're doing. one of your best videos...
good to see another informative video Matt, my current house here in the UK was constructed in the 1800s the main part of the house is solid 3 foot thick stone walls, the 2 storey side extension which was put on in 1986 is UK 2 coarse thick brick walls with air gap in between, when we bought the house in 2001, on the main part of the house the rafters in the loft were only about 2 inches below the roofing felt,we had the roof reslated ,replaced the slates and roofing where necessary,as i was converting the main loft into another room,and due to the lack of depth on the rafters we couldn't insulate in between,so i used 3/4 inch thick plasterboard with 2 inch of solid insulation on the rear to cover the whole of both pitches front & back internally and to the floor @ 45 degrees for the last 2 foot(attached to the bottom set of purloins), i also rejoisted the floor in the opposite direction to strengthen the floor before re-flooring with t&g OSB,we then proceed to completely re-insulate the loft on the extension with 6 inches of fiberglass on both the floor and pitches before covering with t&g on the floor and 8 foot sheets of hardboard on the pitches, we then had the cavity gap in the extension blown filled from ground up (as there was no cavity insulation),5 years later we installed triple glazed windows from Camden Windows( a Irish company), shortly after that i adjusted our central heating down in the first 12 months our Gas consumption went down by 68% yes 68%, i have since added a single storey rear extension which is also triple glazed and insulated to the the max, the house is so warm that i have not had the central heating for @ least 10 months, current temp of house as i am writing this is 17 deg centigrade or 62 deg Fahrenheit, and outside temperature is about 4 or 5 degrees centigrade, my motto insulate to the max and fit good quality triple glazed windows, even in the summer we have a steady temperature, i only have one double glazed window in the whole house (a velux roof window), i have no need or intention to switch the central heating unless we get a lengthy spell of weather below -5 deg c, spend wisely upfront save a fortune later on, ps lets see the after re-insulation and a direct comparison between the two ~:) pps i live a quarter mile from the sea and get lots of high winds
In Arkansas my mom’s electric company had a company come test her house with the seal test and sealed the leaks and blew in insulation and they paid for it!! Did a wonderful job. Good video
Tell them to come to my house next
wtf man is she on welfare? tired of paying so everyone gets it done free and I'm the sucker having to pay for myself AND others.
Dude, that was by far the most informative video on insulation I have ever watched. Absolutely fantastic.
These guys are like the vacuum sellers... they got me sold!
Hey Matt, it would be interesting to see a retest with the FLIR after the improvements.
I too want to see this with the Flir after being done
Really like that True R Value crew! Those guys are true professionals.
This is the video I have been looking for on how to accomplish everything you state, This video came at a great time thank you
I spray foamed my 1200 sqft house everything is electric no gas My power bill average is $75 a month in North Georgia 🤘🏽
It’s called Rob’s Retreat You can check it out on VRBO
eyeonfish Yes , I have a metal roof and I had to spray under side to stop the noise from rain I use closed cell
Do you use natural gas for heating and hot water?
The Truth no, everything is electric
Now you are perfectly setup for a tiny grid tie solar instal. $70 a mont for a couple years then free for life. Unless your living between 10 trees of course.
Ecospider5 I’m surrounded by trees
Hey Guys, great video! I didn't hear much talk about vapor barriers and dew point. In the north, many older homes were not built with a vapor barrier in the ceiling. Applying continuous spray foam on the field not only provides a vapor barrier but protects your blow-in insulation from a dew point. Just a thought.
Which climate zones does this apply to? Winters in the lower Midwest usually don't get snow accumulation for more than a couple weeks anymore. Is a ceiling vapor barrier only a building practice for the far north? Your comment from a year ago is the first I've heard of it.
What a great video! I'm in fort worth and Austin's Just down the road. I'm a contactor and definitely doing this in our old home. Keep up the awesome videos!
Just bought my first home here in Austin, TX. This channel has been exactly what I needed! So perfect I can't believe it! Giving these guys a call!
I also have a Flir One Pro and those images looked awfully familiar. I love the handprint demo too :-) This is one of the best videos in a long time and it's coming just as I'm looking to do some similar improvements and new HVAC. Keep it up!
Get the duct work AeroSealed!
This guy is super professional 👍🏼
I dunno. Visions of naked Matt snow skiing with only a sweater in the first two minutes.
Oh god, he was also given a "free suckout"
Thanks for sharing Matt, it is interesting to see new technologies and techniques even if they aren't in my own field of 'expertise.'
greetings matt. i was amazed at the images generated by the IDI rep. one would never think there would be that much transfer in some of those places. thank you immensely for that exposure and please thank the rep for his demo. please keep making such good videos....g
I added insulation to my house a couple of decades ago. That helped, but when I had new darker roofing put on, I notice that my air conditioner runs a lot. Darker roofing may look nice, but it is bad for increasing the heat in the attic in the summer.
Who would of thought...
Dr Energy Saver covered this years ago....same format...nice add on with the fog machine. Fire rated orange foam is an option,...code some times req....going thru all that and use blown in fluffy stuff..or foam , hell no....ROCKWOOL ONLY
Would also go thru the trouble to run 1/2 in POLYISO board with a 1 in. air gap run from soffit vents to ridge vent....yep between each rafter, now that's a project sports fans.
I’m with you on the rockwool. I don’t fully understand what you are suggesting about insulating between the ridges. Can you explain to me the purpose and function of this? Does this keep the roof cold in winter and hot in summer while keeping the attic temperate?
I am looking to reinsulate my 1950 home. I want to remove the blown in cellulite in the attic and replace it with rockwool. My attic is low with a vent on each end.
J A Miller - it does help with cold roof in winter and blocks some of the heat transfer to the attic from the roof during summer. You have to do it correctly so there is good airflow and you don’t overheat your roof and some shingles perform better than others at higher temps.
Great video of what a home owner can do to improve sealing air leaks. I picked up a few tricks and ideas that I can do myself.thanks
Excellent, informative video, that empowers home owners to insulate smarter. Just had my home evaluated and the quote was basically right on the money for the price quoted in the video.
Whats the blower door # after air sealing??
Or cfm @ 50. Dont Leave me hanging
Air sealing is an under utilized option.
Most older homes leak like if your leaving several windows open in the summer or winter.
Makes it hard to heat or cool without wasting money.
Sealing up those leaks is a huge energy saver.
Saving energy saves money month after month, year after year.
Every new home needs a blower door test during construction to point out areas that need to be fixed before the house is completed.
yep my 1929 home leaks insane and it was moved in 1954 175miles through the bush so things are tweeked as well. guna have to move my insulation around little by little as getting contractor is next to impossible to come up where i am these days
@@adrianstoness3903 Do what ever you can to seal up the house. It will make it much more comfortable temperature wise and it will save money on fuel. Try to address the worst offender first and work your way to the least offender. Once you begin to notice the improvement you will be hooked and will want to do more.
Kenz300 x only electric heat here. Yea I need to seal it up trying to figure that out rains cold in the basement when the furnace is on. House sits on 8x8 skids ontop of the foundation length wise
Loved watching and learning about this!
Exactly what I'm looking at on my Austin home right now...
Thanks for drawing attention to air sealing on existing homes! What’s that website you mentioned for the average R value computation? And what was the test out blower door number?
Matt, since you were out here in Arizona recently, how would you recommend sealing an attic, especially if the roof is low (We're talking a roof run of four inches every foot)
This is a fantastic episode. I KNOW my 29 year old house needs sealing. This is a great help.
For sure the way to go ! My Next hvac
Great video! Don’t understand how air can leak at wall top plate if ceiling and walls are taped and floated.
Just finished having a lake house near Marble Falls foamed and want to get insulation assessed when we get it all buttoned up.
Much respect, man. Your doing a great service.
David
Makes sense! Thanks for helping me!
I have a 1979 house with an attic that looks exactly like yours. I have been debating this exact process and I loved this video. At $4-$6 a square foot, my 1500sq/ft attic is about double what I figured it would be. I was thinking about spray foaming it but if that is double...wow.
Loved this video it was so helpful at least to my situation in my home - thanks!
Hi, I went through that Texas ice storm having days without any electricity. When I got my electricity restored I told a neighbor I would be looking into getting alternative energy. My neighbor suggested that I see how insulated my home is because he felted my home temperature shouldn't be as cold as I told him. This video goes into details that are very important for home owner to be aware about, such as air leaks, proper insulating and companies you should't give your business too. So glad I watched your video and thank-you Matt!
I'd like to see how you remedy missing insulation in exterior walls. I think a few of the exterior rooms in my house have that problem.
I'm not a pro, but when we remodeled our house we rented a big box blower (free when you buy X bundles of insulation) and did the attic. To fill the exterior walls, we located the studs, and used a 3" hole saw to remove a plug in the drywall near the ceiling between each stud. Then we used the insulation blower to fill the cavities. Some needed a little more convincing with a fish tape to fill, but all in all it went well. Worst issue was communicating to the person running the blower to shut it off between holes. You either need to empty the room of all content, or cover and tape it off. High pressure insulation blowback isn't pleasant, whether or not your mask is sealed properly.
Keep the drywall plugs intact, and it's quite easy to tape and mud them back into place, and a coat of paint was happening anyway.
Maybe the pros have a better way of dealing with it, but it worked for us.
Hehehe, "he did give me a free suck-out"
Jokes aside I love this show, thanks Matt.
LOL
I just bought a 1970's house 2 weeks ago. I think this is a great video. I learned a ton from watching it. Thank you for taking the time so the things to look for. When I get my insulation company over I know what to ask them to do and look for. Great Vlog. Found your channel from Off The Ranch.
Great show! Really opened my eyes to what needs to be done in my home. It’s 123 years old now and it definitely breathes when it’s windy out lol.
what was the blower door score after sealing? Would be nice to see it in stages, like attic, then windows or whatever else you are going to do :)
The blower door score doesn't prove the building is insulated optimally. It only shows the degree of improvement. A competent insulation installer is required to maximize energy savings; not cheap IR cameras and expensive foam. These silly boys need to attend insulation school. Or, at least, stop talking!
@Straight Razor Daddy , thanks, I use expensive IR cameras and blower door testing (before & after,) but neither affect the quality of my work. I know what must be done to optimally retrofit a home's insulation. The work performed is the result of experience, skill, and a knowledge of thermodynamics. At best the IR camera is a sales tool - and the customer can gain confidence seeing the difference from before to afterward. The blower door tests are simply required to gain utility rebates for my customer. Neither results in a better job. I suppose if the contractor is unscrupulous, these devices keep him honest. I can teach techniques for quality insulation work. I cannot teach integrity. Either an employee wants to do a great job, or they just show up for the paycheck - those don't last long.
Great info! Question: After removing the old insulation..instead of sealing cracks with the gun etc, can you just "foam" the attic floor to hit 2 birds with one stone? It seems that would still allow the furnace etc to use attic air that is above the foam floor.. Thanks in advance. Fred
Yes. If you're not conditioning the attic you'll want to verify required foam thickness r value vs fluffy r value ratio on something like green building advisor. Id use exterior wall ratios for reference since a vented attic would be similar climate to the outdoors
Remodel video's are awesome!
Very well done video. Much appreciated, Matt!
How much did the attic sealing and insulation affect the blower door test results?
Great video. Only one comment--I have the same Flir IR and would have liked to see the temp display turned on to show the delta between hot and cold spots. While the images and sensitivity are impressive, it's important to see the actually temp variation to know how bad the problem really is. It may only be a couple degrees depending on the settings. When I do my first pass I like to set my range and colors to highlight the most egregious problems first. Otherwise you can go nuts chasing everything that's "orange" (or purple up north).
True. The difference between blue and orange can just be a few degrees.
Best video I’ve seen on this topic. Very well done.
Nice!
16:00 yay Stephen!
Like to know before, intermediate, and after numbers and square footage.
Awesome video! You mentioned the show notes would link to a site that would help us calculate the true R-value of home insulation after subtracting out all the air leaks. I can't seem to find it... What is that website?
Heh. Came to the comments to ask this. As Risinger said, "we'll link to that website fer sure." 😂
In another video you talked about the benefits of spray foaming the attic ceiling as a more efficient alternative to insulating the attic floor. Benefits included your attic HVAC running in a cooler environment and being able to use your attic as storage. Just curious why you didn't choose to do that with this house? I'm currently in the middle of making this decision. Thanks.
if it is just a flip, it's a cost decision. If you were living in it, you would probably condition the space, specially in Texas. On technical consideration against it (same as my flip): the house has ship lap sheathing. Soon that roof will need to be replaced along with the ship lap. You would want to re-roof, re-sheath the roof before foam coating those old boards. Just my opinion..
Such valuable information in this video. Thank you!
Love your show, great work.
Why leave the old bathroom fan? I tossed those on my first remodel and vented the new ones w rigid insulated pipe.
I think it is going to get ripped out as part of the demo, they were just doing that to show you what would be done if you weren't remodeling the whole thing.
Where I live (Australia) it isn't required to externally vent a bathroom fan (if it's normally venting into the ceiling space and you have a tiled roof (which has air gaps between the tiles)). I'm curious to know why it's necessary in your situation?
Awesome episode! I'm bidding exactly this job on my 1923 Wissahickon schist house in Philly. have already had the insulation "salesmen" in, as well as a lower grade performance/insulation salesman in, but not satisfied I have the right info to move forward yet. Never going to get it super tight, and a lot of unique hurdles, but every bit of info is super helpful. Do the mold episode too!
Those two contractors were great. Well spoken and knowledgeable. I do wonder how an organic "sugar like" binder holds up to insects, but I am confident the manufacturer took that into consideration.
What can you use to seal the chimney (hot water heater, fireplace metal chimney eg) opening in the ceiling - where the metal pipe goes through? As I recall, the building code requires an inch or two of clearance from combustibles. Thnx
Metal flashing and high temp silicone should work. Then you can use a mineral wool bath around the pipe.
Same question, but would fireblock foam work right against it or do I still need to do the metal flashing?
Great but would you want to do all the hvac work THEN blow in the new insulation?
Now the hvac crew gets to work and pack down the new insulation?
I'm pretty sure he was just doing a small area of the foam and blow-in for the video recording purpose.
Excellent video thanks for sharing-you took so much valuable time explaining...
Feel so bad for Matt because of all the time, energy and MONEY spent to do these videos for us on this real-remodel, and then to see him tear down this house. However, I’m grateful for his content and the ultimate sacrifice made to tear down this POS. Worlds most expensive demonstration on a personal level.
Keep up the amazing work and content for your subscribers!
“Until next time, ON THE BUILD SHOW!!”
whaaat? did he tear it down? why
IR is an indirect measure for air leakage and requires interpretation. IR is radiant heat (electromagnetic) and air leakage is convection. It's a given that heat will transfer via convection or conduction, so this heat is transferring into the home one way or another, but this doesn't fit your Gortex analogy very well. IR imaging makes for impressive and dramatic pretty pictures, but the software is also auto-ranging to add the most contrast to really make even the smallest deltas pop. Also, this isn't measuring heat (energy), it's measuring temperature. So, this could be misinterpreted - it's great data; BUT, it really takes an experienced and qualified interpretation of the data to make IR data meaningful.