Soffit Extenders and Insulation
November 19th, 2006
This weekend I installed raft-r-mate soffit extenders in my attic, and then doubled the existing insulation. I currently had insulation installed between the joists, but I wanted to make sure that I got the most for my heating oil dollars this winter. Between being sick and getting ready for a marathon, I did not have time until this weekend to take care of this project. Thankfully, I did not have anything else that I needed to get done this weekend; it took me a while to get everything done.
Yesterday, I went to Home Depot to get everything that I needed. I wound up having to make 3 trips in total (2 trips, plus I turned around and went back a third time when I was 3/4 of the way home when I realized I forgot something), and rather than having more than I needed of everything I wound up having not enough.
Yesterday, I installed the soffit extenders in about a third of the house. This morning/early afternoon, I finished installing them. I wound up having to go every other over the kitchen, since I wound up being a few shy. At some point I may buy a few more, but it was not worth going out again today.
Installing the insulation was accomplished this afternoon. I bought 770 square feet, thinking that I would be able to bring 1 or 2 of the 10 packages back when I was done. I wound up using all of it, though. I was able to insulate almost the entire attic; the only place that did not get any was right above my access door and right in front of it where there is a small platform built. I had not planned on insulating there anyway.
My attic looks a lot different to me now. I can no longer see the joists; instead, there is just a big sea of pink. Since I have not been through a winter here yet, I do not have anything to measure against to know how effective the job was. I have to assume that it will help, though. I’m not even sure what the insulating level of the existing insulation is; I bought R-19 to lay over it. It is installed perpendicular to the joists, so that there is less of a chance of any stray heat being able to sneak its way out of the house and into the attic.
I am pretty exhausted now, though. This week I’ll share some of the tips and tricks I picked up as I was doing this project. By the time I was done, I was certainly much more efficient than when I started.
November 20th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
Nice job, you should be toasty this winter.
November 20th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Thanks; that’s the idea!
November 21st, 2006 at 10:44 pm
[…] After the weekend was over, though, I realized that taking time off is not only hard, but it is hard work. I spent the weekend reinsulating my attic. Spending 2 days in the dark on your knees with all that crap in the air and banging your head constantly is not the easiest way to get rest. […]
November 22nd, 2006 at 11:01 am
Last year I renovated my kitchen and living room. To do that, I had to re-wire all the lights and that meant crawling into the ceiling. Our insulation is the blown in variety. I had to dig all of it away so I could re-wire and then put all the insulation back afterwards.
You’re right - being up there is definitely not relaxing. It’s hard work!
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:38 am
[…] For the meantime, I put some duct tape around the top so that it will not spray all over the kitchen when we use the faucet. A snow storm prevented me from driving home last night, so I was not able to take care of any more permanent solutions, be it a new faucet or some epoxy. We got our gift certificate for having bought our insulation for the attic from Home Depot, so I will probably just use that towards whatever we wind up using. At least it will not cost us more cash. […]