pink blown in bottom, white on top, safe to mix?


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Old 06-11-16, 09:03 AM
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pink blown in bottom, white on top, safe to mix?

Hi all,

Our upper floor gets crazy hot, 5'C more than our main floor, and we're thinking maybe air sealing would be helpful. The previous owners had new blow-in insulation placed, there's a LOT of it, and they had fresh plastic put down over all the drywall prior, but they didn't do any air sealing around wires, between drywall and wood, around the pipes, etc.

We're doing the slow and methodical job of "push the fluff to one side, spray foam around gaps".

We can see new'ish pink blow in on bottom, white mega soft stuff on top. Inevitably it'll get all mixed up as we move to the side to air seal then fluff back. Is this ok? Can they mix?

You can see in the photo the dirtier pink around that blue wire and wood from the lack of air sealing. The pink pile to the right is the stuff I shoved out of that cavity at front. In the back, the white blanket is like the rest of the attic, all white on top.

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PS we're pretty poor, having professionals suck it all out then air seal and put it back isn't really an option.
 
  #2  
Old 06-11-16, 09:39 AM
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Air sealing is good, but if you can't get it all focus on the larger openings, like around plumbing vents, drop ceilings and chimney if one is there. Mixing the two types of insulation will not be a problem, but neatness counts so replace it as orderly as possible.

Now, you are expecting this effort to reduce the temperature up there, won't make a measurable difference. It will reduce your heating and cooling costs so do proceed.

What do you have for attic ventilation, soffit vents, gable vents, ridge vent or other. Allowing some of that heat to escape all by itself will help.

You are working on the attic, but what do you have for wall insulation and windows? Do you have ac and access to any of those ducts. Air sealing the ducts to make sure your expensive conditioned air gets delivered to where it is supposed to go is important.

Bud
I'll add a link on air sealing to help.

https://www.energystar.gov/ia/partne...ide_062507.pdf
 
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Old 06-11-16, 10:00 AM
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oh thank goodness. thanks for the reply!

Good it will reduce costs at least, pity about the not changing the temp. I read about the foil sheet stuff, would you recommend placing that down over the insulation afterwards?

It's a small townhouse, neighbors on either side and we all share the one continuous roof top, split up with drywall inside. The house is a rectangle, 20'x25'. The attic is very simple.

We see soffits, can see light spilling up between the built in plywood baffles (only 4 total, 2 on north, 2 on south side), and 3 static vents, all on the north side of the roof near the top. I can't see any sq in numbers on the static vents from inside, I assume I'd have to go on the roof and lift shingles to find that number? We're going to get the shingles re-done next year, I suppose we could solve that possible problem then.

The basement is mostly finished but we'll definitely go and aluminum tape any ductwork we can get at! Good suggestion thanks!

Question, Just found there's no plastic over the bathroom drywall (under the insulation). Is that proper? Like that moisture maybe needs to escape? The air vent in there goes right to a roof vent, and there's no black mold anywhere, or water spots on the drywall....yet ...


This pdf is intense, thanks!
 
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Old 06-11-16, 10:26 AM
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The foil sheet would not be good in a northern climate, it acts as a condensing layer above the insulation.

When you do the new roof, they have shingles that reflect a good portion of the solar energy so it never gets inside where you have to deal with it. No need to measure those vents, they are there and probably adequate. The fact that you are not seeing any problems means something is working.

They make switches for bath exhaust fans that provide a delayed off function. Turn the fan off as you leave and it continues to run for some selected time frame. This helps to reduce the moisture level in the bathroom. If concerned about the lack of a vb, paint acts as a vapor retarder and some paints or vinyl wall paper are full vapor barriers. But doesn't sound like it is an issue for you.

Bud
 
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Old 06-11-16, 11:15 AM
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I love this forum!!! Thank you so so so much! The reflective shingles will definitely be of interest, that's genius!

Our bathroom fan switch is that timer kind, we just do 30 mins every time and not stop it preemptively. Should be good. There's a bit of moisture "rings" around the fan in attic though, good to know we can just paint it.

Thankfully the roof seems in perfect condition, nails still silver, no darkening mold anywhere. Phew!

Thanks so much again!!
 
 

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