Blow In Insulation Questions

Posted by Jeffy3 on October 22, 2009, 1:19 pm

You guys in this group have come through for me so many times before
so I hope you can help again! We have a fifty-something year old
house, plaster walls and brick exterior with NO insulation in
between. My son's room upstairs is the coldest for some reason, so we
got an estimate to get blown in insulation where they would cut a
small hole in between each stud and blow it in , then cap it.
Estimate is $500 and does not include painting over the plugs. The
room is about 10 x 10 .
Questions: any opinions on the estimated cost? is blow in insulation
even proven as an effective method? Will we notice a difference in
this room ? Is this considered a routine job for a contractor or are
there some serious things that could go wrong?

Thanks in advance!

Posted by ransley on October 22, 2009, 3:32 pm

> You guys in this group have come through for me so many times before
> so I hope you can help again! =A0We have a fifty-something year old
> house, plaster walls and brick exterior with NO insulation in
> between. =A0My son's room upstairs is the coldest for some reason, so we
> got an estimate to get blown in insulation where they would cut a
> small hole in between each stud and blow it in , then cap it.
> Estimate is $500 and does not include painting over the plugs. =A0The
> room is about 10 x 10 .
> Questions: any opinions on the estimated cost? =A0is blow in insulation
> even proven as an effective method? =A0Will we notice a difference in
> this room ? Is this considered a routine job for a contractor or are
> there some serious things that could go wrong?
> Thanks in advance!

500$ to insulate one 10x10 room? Foam might be noticable in warmth,
so you will be adding only R12?

Posted by Tony Hwang on October 22, 2009, 8:35 pm

ransley wrote:

>> You guys in this group have come through for me so many times before
>> so I hope you can help again! We have a fifty-something year old
>> house, plaster walls and brick exterior with NO insulation in
>> between. My son's room upstairs is the coldest for some reason, so we
>> got an estimate to get blown in insulation where they would cut a
>> small hole in between each stud and blow it in , then cap it.
>> Estimate is $500 and does not include painting over the plugs. The
>> room is about 10 x 10 .
>> Questions: any opinions on the estimated cost? is blow in insulation
>> even proven as an effective method? Will we notice a difference in
>> this room ? Is this considered a routine job for a contractor or are
>> there some serious things that could go wrong?
>> Thanks in advance!

>
> 500$ to insulate one 10x10 room? Foam might be noticable in warmth,
> so you will be adding only R12?

Hi,
Definitely foam is better choice and how about ceiling?

Posted by HeyBub on October 22, 2009, 5:56 pm

Jeffy3 wrote:

> You guys in this group have come through for me so many times before
> so I hope you can help again! We have a fifty-something year old
> house, plaster walls and brick exterior with NO insulation in
> between. My son's room upstairs is the coldest for some reason, so we
> got an estimate to get blown in insulation where they would cut a
> small hole in between each stud and blow it in , then cap it.
> Estimate is $500 and does not include painting over the plugs. The
> room is about 10 x 10 .
> Questions: any opinions on the estimated cost? is blow in insulation
> even proven as an effective method? Will we notice a difference in
> this room ? Is this considered a routine job for a contractor or are
> there some serious things that could go wrong?
> Thanks in advance!

Put your hand* on the wall. Is the wall cold? If so, insulation will help.

If the wall is not cold, look elsewhere.

-------
* A more accurate reading can be obtained with a remote-sensing thermometer.
HF has one for about ten bucks.

Posted by cshenk on October 22, 2009, 6:17 pm

"Jeffy3" wrote

> so I hope you can help again! We have a fifty-something year old
> house, plaster walls and brick exterior with NO insulation in
> between. My son's room upstairs is the coldest for some reason, so we

Probably you have a wind pattern effect hitting that room. Keep in mind
that without insulation, the coldest rooms are thre attic even though 'heat
rises'.

Do you have other upstairs rooms and what do you have between the roof and
them?

> got an estimate to get blown in insulation where they would cut a
> small hole in between each stud and blow it in , then cap it.
> Estimate is $500 and does not include painting over the plugs. The
> room is about 10 x 10 .
> Questions: any opinions on the estimated cost? is blow in insulation
> even proven as an effective method? Will we notice a difference in
> this room ? Is this considered a routine job for a contractor or are
> there some serious things that could go wrong?

It's pretty routine and the price isnt bad if just doing 1 room. If you
have multiple rooms, you'll find the cost per room drops. It has to do with
their cost to get to team and gear to your house (time is money).

Look at it this way: I need a tree cut out and it's a big one. To do it,
the tree cutter needs 6 employees, 1 gear truck, and the true professional
chipper that can handle a 3ft wide trunk. He has to travel 1 hour to get to
me, and 1 hour to get back to next nearest job. My 'price per tree' will be
higher as he has to pay the 6 employees even if the job takes only 1 hour
with his gear. They still get 'x dollars per hour'. So, 'assume' they get
20$ per hour and the actual work takes 1 hour, I would expect to pay 6x20x3
for the job (plus his reasonable profit as after all he's in a business to
make a profit).

Now match that to 'I need 7 hours of work' (grunch of trees). I'm the only
customer that day due to amount of work contracted. I'm still gonna pay 2
hours 'pay per member' for the travel time but the overall cost per tree
will go down and he may well cut me a deal because he gets a bigger overall
assured amount.

You may want to ask the contractor how much to do the other upstairs rooms
(assuming you have some). It might be only 350$ to add an extra room.
Might be even less than that. Worth asking at least!

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