Should I put in Insulation in the Attic?

[JanetRose]

The attic is above our garage and living room. The house is split-level and the other attic is about our bedrooms. Don't all houses have insulation in the attic when they are built?

 

[Kermit]

I always thought that all attics have insulation. Every house I've ever lived in has had insulation in the attic. One of the reasons I can't stand storing things up there is because the yucky pink stuff comes down too when we have to get something out of there.

 

[Chicago526]

Depends on the age of the house. Mine was built in '47 and has no insulation in the orriginal structure (it does on the addition that was added). But the orriginal house was plaster, which acts as it's own insulation from what I understand.

Only way to know if your atic has insulation is to actually go up and look. If it does and it looks nice and thick, then no worries. If it is thin (or there isn't any) then you may want to look into adding it. If you have the fluffy stuff that is rolled in (as opposed to the foam that is sprayed in), you may be able to lift a corner and see if you can find out the insulation rating (how well insulation protects againts heat/cold) since it can varry (the lower the protection the lower it costs, your homebuilder may have been cheap). If you have a low number, you can then either replace it or add to it if you want.

 

[lynxstch]

Not sure if all new houses being built have insulated attics..but a lot of older ones do not..ours fell into that category..our house is more than 50 years old..yet when we bought it 2 1/2 years ago.."almost" everything had been replaced inside..new sheetrock, new elec, new plumbing, etc...but the attic was as bare as the day it was built..we have a wood burning stove with attached blower in the basement..first winter here..we used it half the time and used the gas furnace the other half..last year we added insulation to the attic..not a fun job..but one that has proved itself practical and has already paid for itself..well..the furnace (the one major thing that hadn't been replaced)..decided that it wasn't going to ignite all the time..serviceman said it wasn't worth repairing, and at the time we couldn't afford to replace it..so we used the wood stove as our only source of heat for the entire winter..the insulation made such a difference!..the house heated faster, and the heat stayed in the house much longer..for us it was a fairly inexpensive job to insulate..the attic was bare, the insulation had a rebate on it when we bought it..it only took us 1 day to do the whole job..and we are so glad we did!..furnace has since been replaced, but with the rising costs of natural gas as a heating source..we plan on using the wood stove almost exclusively again this season

 

[JanetRose]

There is no insulation up in our attic - someone that looked up there said it was dusty - does it need to be cleaned out prior to laying insulation. Is insulation expensive?

 

[lynxstch]

but no..we didn't clean it..insulation is 'fair priced' in our location..cost us less than $350 to do ours..there was also a rebate at the time..check your local lowe's and home depot's..measure your attic and know if you want faced or unfaced before you go shopping..we bought faced..and were able to get exactly the width we needed in strips...be sure to bring a truck or have it delivered..those pkgs are big..and you can't get many in a car at one time!

 

[Cindyluwho]

There is no insulation up in our attic - someone that looked up there said it was dusty - does it need to be cleaned out prior to laying insulation. Is insulation expensive?

No, blowing in insulation should be fairly inexpensive. We paid under $200 to have it blown in for a 2000 sq ft house about 5 years ago. One thing you should probably know. Some folks are getting nervous about fiberglass, they're saying it might be the "next asbestos". It will cost a little more but we had cellulose insulation blown in instead of fiberglass. Some companies won't work with it, I guess it's messier.

You won't believe how much your energy bill will change