Previous owner said they always had huge icicles off the back of the house. This would be why.

.75 inches of fiberglass, where there should be at LEAST 8 inches, and code for our area more like 15 inches.

Combine that with the uninsulated, unblocked floor cavities in the upstairs floor joists, that lead directly to the uninsulated attic space...

And combine THAT with the 4(!!!) access points to the attic that were not only completely uninsulated, but also had no weather sealing, and ⅛-¼ inch gaps around all edges.

This house was literally leaking warm air like a sieve, all winter long.

I'm only putting in 8 inches of fiberglass batting. And sealing every crack and joint I can find, as well as the gaping holes 🤦‍♂️

It'll still be under code, but, insulating it properly with spray foam would cost literally SIXTEEN TIMES MORE than just using the batting. And considering that our long term goal is to condition the attic space by insulating the roof deck, obsoleting the insulation I'm putting in now, I'm not eager to overspend.

I'll settle for only blocking 95% of heat flow, instead of 99.

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[–] [S] 4 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

This will be my first winter in this house, so unfortunately(fortunately?) I won't have any first hand comparison to how bad it was before.

But yes, I think it'll be much improved. I'll know it's better if I don't have monster sized icicles.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 hours ago (1 child)

    My house had no insulation anywhere, just walls made of cinderblock filled with concrete and a basement. Ceiling was just plaster tiles (a weird old 1940s system that was intermediate between lath-and-plaster and sheetrock) with no insulation in the attic floor at all except for faint traces of what I assume was asbestos. I've spent the last two weeks putting in R19 fiberglass batts and decking the attic, absolute murder on my knees since the peak of the roof is only 5' tall. My heating bills have actually not been too terrible up to this point since the house is so small (650 sq. ft.), but I'm assuming that having at least the ceiling decently insulated will make a significant difference this winter.

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