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.

Edit, update:
I took a few days off, the temp outside went up, and it was sunny, so the attic got real hot real fast. No thanks, I'm not in that kind of rush.

But I got all of one side done yesterday, still need to put the boards back down, and insulate the gappy door, but it's sealed.

“Looks like 8” to me” TWHS

Am electrician, if youre considering adding any lights or power to that floor you should do so NOW vs after you insulate.

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/08d794ed-6898-44d5-9597-7927f6349377#CZmVG6r2.copy

Or Ethernet, for example AP drops or cameras in the soffits.

"it compacts, it was 8inches when we installed it" <- words I've heard way too much

Looks like it's been smashed down. Were they storing garbage bags of stuff up there?

Those batts also look super compressed. I bet the house gets cold as hell too

Wait, are you in my attic right now? I'm renting a garage "apartment" and that basically describes the attic space... $300/month in heating... God knows what I'm in for this winter...

ugh im in a condo and can't convince people on the need for much more attic insulation. its so cheap and we can recover the cost so quickly. face palm.

I left a place like that for one that included heat in the rent.

I was in the pool!

What kinda wack fuck inaulation is that? Our garden shed is better insulated than that.

It's just 80 years old I think lol

Yeah the upstairs especially is uh, following the weather outside pretty closely

Already in the works, adding a ceiling fan to the living room, and a couple extra lights in places.

True story! Especially batting or blown in.

I'm only at like $500 for materials so far. Although spray foam would be like $8000 👀

It's super old, and I doubt it was 8 inches when installed, probably 3 or 4. Crazy. Old houses 🤷‍♂️

Have you considered blown insulation since it's in the attic? Should be cheaper than foam and higher r value than bats

From what I've read, the difference is pretty minimal.

Plus I'd need the blower, and all the hassle. Probably want to do it in one day, whereas with the batts I'm able to do it a little bit every day after work.

The key is that there are boards on top of the joists, for storage and stuff. I'd like to keep them, even though it reduces my max potential r value. Again, this is a short term solution, a year or two at most.

Oh shit, that reminds me to do the same!

Don't forget air circulation is important, too. Leaks are bad. 100% airtight is bad, too. Do a bit of research if you haven't already.

Ain't no "re" involved here

Yep, thanks!

Airtight so air doesn't flow from the conditioned space to the unconditioned. And insulated. But the insulation isn't trapped, it can breath. Plus ridge vents, and in my case, gable vents.

The only thing I'm sealing in a questionable way, is the joists between floors, because they are open to winter air.

But technically that should be fine? The temp should be the same on both sides, nowhere for moisture to condense.. hmm.. I'll dig deeper on that.

Right?!

RE in the sense that ¾ inch of insulation is technically still insulation 🙄

Had almost this identical insulation situation when I bought my house. The ceiling just had some thin rock wool. First I went to Lowes and got a few cans of fire-rated spray foam and used it to seal around all ceiling fixtures, canister lights, wire penetrations, anything air can leak from. Next I built a little dam with scrap wood around the access hatch. Then spent one Saturday with a friend blowing insulation in. 8 hours of blower rental was free for every 3 bags of insulation you bought, but it didn't take nearly that much time. Had it up to R-48 depth in only about 4 hours of blowing. I submit the receipts to my state's energy rebate program and was 100% reimbursed. I think the blow-in did a much better job and was easier to get into odd shaped framing than bat would have been.

My winter gas bill halved, much better than I hoped. I also wasn't expecting for my summer AC to bill drop by almost 75%. My house was MUCH more comfortable too. Almost all the draftiness disappeared after that.

I paid $0 after rebates, spent probably 12 hours labor total, and save easily $100-$200 a month.

All very good reasons to do bats. Sounds like you've thorough considered it

That's amazing!

I did look into my states rebate programs, and they only allow them if you pay a contractor to do the work, and even then, they have to be an approved contractor, and they get the rebate, not you, so hopefully you trust them 🤦‍♂️

Someone else mentioned blow in insulation, and I did consider it, but it's a bit messy and fussy for what I want to do with the space in the future. So batting it is 🤷‍♂️

I have the reverse situation. There's only like 3ft of clearance and 2.5ft of blown in fiberglass insulation.

Doing anything in the attic is a fucking nightmare.

But it's warm!

The times I've gone up into my attic to do anything and have to crawl on my belly in blown in fiberglass are too many. I feel you.

Looks like you'll have a much better winter this time around.

I had to do my garage attic a few years ago. I just rented the machine, had a few people over, and did blown in. Granted it wasn't a large space but took longer to setup and breakdown the equipment than to insulate. I went over the recommendation in my attic because I figured it would settle.

It is that. During snowpocolypse a few years back our house didn't drop below 55F despite it being single digits outside with no power.

Unfortunately, it doesn't hold on to cold air as well.

I don't even know how to get in mine. The opening is at the top of a tiny closet, and the hole is built for someone the size of like a 4 year old Ethiopian child. I could fit my toddler up there... But I am not really sure what that would actually accomplish.

Yeah it seems so. At least it's not that shredded blown in insulation some US houses use

Air is a great insulator in the absence of gravity. Have you considered relocating the house?

This is my issue as well. I don't know any professional small people that can do roof repairs.

Once it gets cold enough one of the roof whirlygigs freezes until spring so I had to seal the attic hole up so the insulation pellets (asbestos free) don't get blown down everytime a outside door opens.

Lol what's a whirlygig?

Can you recommend the brand of spray foam you used?

Yes, to an area with more air if at all possible.

They likely mean a spinning turbine vent.

If OP can't afford the commute to space, then I recommend a good zero-G machine.

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.

More air, per air

I wish you the best of luck then

As a Brit, I find it wild to see a measuring device with imperial but no metric on it. Like, do Americans seriously not need to interface with any measurements beyond the 18th century?

Upvoted, obviously, for getting your insulation functional.

submit the receipts to my state’s energy rebate program and was 100% reimbursed

So many people don't know to look for these reimbursements, many countries have them

Just leave them up there and let them figure it out, not your problem

Canadian, same. Dual measures are pretty universal. It's honestly nearly impossible to find a stupid metric only tape. Super weird to see imperial only. Could be an old tool?

The water foreshortened it!