by After a lot of thought, I decided to replace all the blown insulation above the ceiling with spray foam that would be applied directly to the underside of the roof deck. My motivation for this was twofold. Firstly, I wanted good insulation to help keep the A/C bills down. Secondly, and probably the deciding factor, was that it would provide greater access to the attic space and make working in the attic much more tolerable.
The blown insulation that most houses are built with lies just above the ceiling. It is usually about a foot thick and, in my home, it was white. Above that layer and below the underside of the roof deck is very hot air. Although vented from the soffit to a ridge vent at the top of the roof, it is like a sauna on a hot summer day. Since I would be doing a lot of work in that area, I wanted to have access to it year round.
This is not a DIY job. It requires special equipment and training. The company I hired took two days to complete the work. The first day involved sucking out all the blown insulation. That is not a job I would have wanted. Kudos to the fellows who did it. A very difficult task. Below I show the sacks filled with the blown insulation that was removed.
The second day a different crew arrived to do the spraying. The pic below shows the area in the kitchen. This was the only place where you can easily see it because I had already pulled the ceiling down, which also made it easier for the guys doing the spraying.
The whole job cost a little over $7K, so it wasn’t cheap. But I am sure glad I did it because I have spent a lot of time climbing around up there since and, although warmer than ground level, it was very reasonable.
nuntawob 