Insulation - blown in vs. batt?

[raferguson]

Most of my garage has a few inches of loose insulation in the attic, but when a past owner added a bay to the garage, the addition was not insulated. Of course, the new part is the far end of the garage, lots of crawling is likely to be required. I laid down a plywood "sidewalk" to make it easy to get to the other end of the garage, partly because I am doing some electrical work

I don't need a high level of insulation, as the garage is only heated when I am working it, which is not every day. Plus I don't heat it above 50F. I just think that I should have some insulation, maybe R-13 or so. The garage has wood trusses on 24 inch centers.

My impulse is to go with fiberglass batt insulation, as I know how to work it, and it does not require any tools to speak of, other than a razor knife.

Since the garage has loose insulation now, that has some appeal, be consistent with the rest of the house. Not sure how difficult it would be to spread it with a rake. Home depot will loan you a machine, but you need to buy 20 bags, maybe double what I need. On the other hand, 20 bags is only $300 or so, and a little extra insulation would not hurt. I would guess that blown in insulation would be easier to install where the roof gets very low. Any comments on doing your own loose insulation?

Of course, I could hire someone to come in with a machine and blow in insulation, which would be the easiest solution. However, it is kind of a small job, not sure what I might pay for that.

Any gotchas I should know about?

 

[polizei1]

I've done blown in, it was actually quite easy, I would recommend it for sure. Don't bother with hiring it out, but it is a 2-3 person job. One person in the attic, one person feeding the machine, and another cutting open the bags. I used Atticat, a 2k sqft attic was completed with 20+ bags in a few hours.

Also, make a measuring stick from a 2x2 or firing strip.

 

[6768rogues]

I put in batts sized for the 24” truss spacing. It would be very hard to get to the eaves in the attic to put in baffles to prevent blowing insulation into the overhang and plugging up the soffit vents. It would mean crawling on my belly over to the wall line under the roof in every bay. The roof gets low and lots of nails stick through. I took up some rolls, unrolled some, and used a stick to push it all the way to the sidewall. It was quite easy.

 

[raferguson]

I've done blown in, it was actually quite easy, I would recommend it for sure. Don't bother with hiring it out, but it is a 2-3 person job. One person in the attic, one person feeding the machine, and another cutting open the bags.

That is probably the dealbreaker right there, the need for two to three people. I just moved to the area, and that would be a messy job, so hard to get a neighbor to help.

That pushes me to batt insulation, which is OK.

Thanks for all the comments.

 

[polizei1]

Well, either way you're going to have to find someone to help, or just hire it out. Even with batts, it's unlikely that you're going to want to hoof that much material up a ladder. I just insulated my interior walls with Roxul, 27 bags. The bags are heavier than normal fiberglass insulation but still, you would be hard pressed to get a bag up by yourself. Cutting it open and carrying 2-3 batts at a time would be doable, but it would take forever. That would be a LOT of trips up/down a ladder.

 

[Radix2]

Insulation is one thing that often comes in pretty close to DIY prices hired out.

Since you also have no help, call for an estimate, you might be surprised.

 

[Musicinabottle]

Insulation is one thing that often comes in pretty close to DIY prices hired out.

Since you also have no help, call for an estimate, you might be surprised.

Absolutely! Around here, they install it cheaper than you can rent the blower or buy the material for yourself. Even batts, they install it for less than you can buy it for. Plus if they come through the ceiling, it's on them!

 

[walrus]

I'd have it blown in, my 30 by 34 shop got 13 inches of cellulose in attic for less than a thousand a few years back.

 

[TomC750]

If using bat or roll insulation, I have found the fastest and easiest way to cut it is by using hedge clippers. Works slick.

 

[James-W]

If using bat or roll insulation, I have found the fastest and easiest way to cut it is by using hedge clippers. Works slick.

WOW! Great idea! I had not thought of that. Thanks for the tip.

 

[850xpeps]

If using bat or roll insulation, I have found the fastest and easiest way to cut it is by using hedge clippers. Works slick.

I use electric bread knife on Roxul. But an Olaf knife works best on fibreglass.


Blow it in. Easy and quick.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[DC73]

Since the garage has loose insulation now, that has some appeal, be consistent with the rest of the house. Not sure how difficult it would be to spread it with a rake.

You used to be able to find loose fill insulation that could easily be spread with a rake or broom. I've not seen that kind around here in quite awhile. The bags I can find currently are compressed and require the machines to break the clumps apart and fluff up the insulation.

DC

 

[rburke65]

I had both blown and batts installed in my shop by a local company. Just the difference in the cost of me buying the bats as compared to them installing the bats was worth the $100 difference. They we in and out in 4 hours. I could not have bought and brought home the material in 4 hours. Write the check.

 

[The Cobbler]

get a price on blown in by a company. you may find you can't buy the insulation for what they quote to do the job.

 

[lakeroadster]

I truly hate blown in insulation. If you ever need to do any maintenance, like running new wiring, the stuff is horrible. If you try to move the insulation it creates a cloud of dust.

Batts.. you just move them, no cloud of nasty dust.

I used batt's on my previous 2 shops.. and the current one. Our house has blown in insulation and I dread any time I need to go into the attic.

 

[PCMusicGuy]

I truly hate blown in insulation. If you ever need to do any maintenance, like running new wiring, the stuff is horrible. If you try to move the insulation it creates a cloud of dust.

Batts.. you just move them, no cloud of nasty dust.

I used batt's on my previous 2 shops.. and the current one. Our house has blown in insulation and I dread any time I need to go into the attic.

I have blown in insulation in my home and it is made of some soft material that doesn't release dust when you move it around. I believe it is cellulose.

 

[mrpizza]

Our price to do that vs you going and getting the stuff to DIY will be real close. We buy the cellulose a semi load at a time and get a much lower price