improving ceiling air tighness « Alternative Technology Assn Forums

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improving ceiling air tighness

(13 posts) (6 voices)

Started 6 years ago by kousuke
Latest reply from Morbo

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kousuke
Member

Greetings,

I'm looking to spend a weekend sealing air gaps on the ceilings after getting someone to remove the 25+ years old blowed insulation before putting batts of higher R value

I looked through a couple of tutorials from the states where they use heaps of spray foam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spray_foam

http://energyfreakshow.com/2012/09/25/air-sealing-the-attic/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Air-Seal-Your-Attic-For-Energy-Savings/?ALLSTEPS

Where would be the best place to get spray foam?

Posted Saturday 9 May 2015 @ 7:35:38 am from IP #
kousuke
Member

ceiling alert quoted me 2K to remove 200m2 of loose insulation in victoria. Does that sound about the right price? It's but over my budget. I was hoping to spend less than 1.5k Is there other reputable contractors I can get quotes from?

Posted Saturday 9 May 2015 @ 7:37:58 am from IP #
Johnnojack
Member

You could just resign yourself to a horrible weekend with disposable overalls, respirator, gloves, broom and big garbage bags. Also hire a decent industrial vacuum. Celebrate the next weekend with some of the savings.

Posted Saturday 9 May 2015 @ 8:12:25 am from IP #
kousuke
Member

i spent two hours scooping up loose insulation with my hands and rake. It's back breaking and developed legs cramps. Whereabouts can I hire a decent industrial vacuum to get the job done?

Posted Saturday 9 May 2015 @ 10:03:16 am from IP #
Chip
Member

It's a dusty, frustrating job which is why a lot of people simply put batts on top of the loose fill.

But like you, I decided to try to remove it myself from a Canberra house- luckily a tiled roof with no sarking so just pushed tiles back here and there for access. Problem with vacuums is that they fill up really quickly and filter gets blocked with dust. I rigged up a dust extractor to suck out of a lidded 205 litre (44 gal) feed drum via a 100mm hole with gauze over it on inside of drum and attached another 100mm flexible hose to another hole in drum and then sewer pipe attached to that and more flexible hose in ceiling. It worked okay but pretty slow, lots of trips up and down ladder. I did about 30 sq metres then rang the experts and they did the remaining 120 sq metres for about $900 a couple of years ago. I had fiddled around for several hours and got dusty inside and out, sore and cranky. Just one guy with great set up finished the job in about 2 hours. Wish I'd called him earlier!

Probably worth the money just to remove risks to health. Plus there are disposal problems in some places where they worry that there is some asbestos in it.

Posted Saturday 9 May 2015 @ 10:49:24 am from IP #
Morbo
Member

tend to agree. Just removing the old hot water system from the roof which meant cutting it up and get the blown in insulation out in plastic bags was a pain. Plus that was 1/4 bin already.

Posted Saturday 9 May 2015 @ 11:35:53 am from IP #
Bushwalker
Member

Removing all the blown-in insulation to fix air leaks sounds a bit over the top. Why not just move it out of the way, fix the leaks and then have the insulation topped up to whatever level you want. Blown-in is messy, I agree but once you have it you might as well keep it.

Before tinkering up there, unless you know exactly what the insulation is made from, get the insulation asbestos tested.

Posted Saturday 9 May 2015 @ 12:02:50 pm from IP #
Morbo
Member

or, if you have ducted soemthin something, maybe pull out one of the covers and hang a big plastic bag underneath to get the blown in crap out. Its kind of heavy, nice to get rid of it. Not much weight your ceiling (or any plaster board) can handle. Plus you can get rid of some of that dust up there.

Posted Sunday 10 May 2015 @ 12:30:25 am from IP #
Annette
Member

Hi Kousuke

Which air gaps in your ceiling are you planning to seal?

Posted Sunday 10 May 2015 @ 12:43:13 am from IP #
kousuke
Member

Hey guys,

thank you for the input

there are air gaps on my ceilings, such as gaps between the plasterboards, the light fittings and poorly installed downlight covers. These air gaps are like tiny chimneys causing the warm air in the house to leak into the space between the ceiling and the roof.

I wanted to remove the loose insulation anyway and have them replaced with higher R value batts

@Chip, that sound like a good idea - I'll investigate this

Posted Monday 11 May 2015 @ 2:23:35 am from IP #
kousuke
Member

I had a building inspection done before I took over the property. I was advise there's no asbestos on the ceiling

Posted Monday 11 May 2015 @ 2:33:17 am from IP #
kousuke
Member

I'm equipped with a 3M respirator for insulation work and safety gear. so no stress about it

Posted Monday 11 May 2015 @ 2:34:38 am from IP #
Morbo
Member

gaps between the plasterboards? Can you see the stars shining through the ceiling? Is it raining insulation in you living room? Sounds like the problem is bigger than just the insulation.

Posted Tuesday 12 May 2015 @ 5:06:56 am from IP #

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