Attic insulation - is this quote fair?

That sounds a tad expensive. You should be looking at $1-1.5/sqft unless you're removing old insulation, then it goes up

EcoComfort is highly recommended around these parts. Out of curiosity, did the company just randomly knock on your door?

You should also look into potentially taking advantage of the energy rebates from Enbridge. It'll require you to do an energy that'll run you $600 but you'll get $1300 back

Did they show up unsolicited, or you called them first? NEVER accept any work from anyone who comes to your door unsolicited. They are most likely lying, or at least exaggerating about the work you need done in an attempt to rip you off, and even if they're not you still shouldn't hire them in order to discourage this type of behavior.

That's like at least double-triple the rate what a place like EcoComfort charges for the same stuff. I used EcoComfort a couple years back and it was like $1.2 per sqft -ish.

Also you won't save 45% of your energy bill, LOL who makes such a claim? I doubt you'd even notice the savings on your energy bill.

R14 is pretty low, if it is true.

That said, the baffles + install are probably a few hundred, they could also probably justify a couple hundred for the hatch extension.

Even with that said, at 660sqft, I'm thinking this quote is pretty high. Get a few more quotes.

Anikiri wrote: ↑ That's like at least double-triple the rate what a place like EcoComfort charges for the same stuff. I used EcoComfort a couple years back and it was like $1.2 per sqft -ish.

Also you won't save 45% of your energy bill, LOL who makes such a claim? I doubt you'd even notice the savings on your energy bill.

If it is truly R14, which is really low so I have my doubts, you would probably be looking at energy savings of 20% or somewhere in that area on the heating/cooling portion of your energy bill, best case.

This said, your upstairs temp would be a lot more stable, which is another perk.

SubjectivelyObjective wrote: ↑ If it is truly R14, which is really low so I have my doubts, you would probably be looking at energy savings of 20% or somewhere in that area on the heating/cooling portion of your energy bill, best case.

This said, your upstairs temp would be a lot more stable, which is another perk.

This is true, he is going from R14. And yes I would agree the upstairs temperatures are more stable.

If he really did have a problem with his insulation... wouldn't he be able to easily spot it every time it snows by just going outside and looking at his roof compared to the roofs of his neighbors? If the other houses all have snow on their roof but your roof is melted, then you got a problem, otherwise you're fine. Am I right?

BeapChastard wrote: ↑ If he really did have a problem with his insulation... wouldn't he be able to easily spot it every time it snows by just going outside and looking at his roof compared to the roofs of his neighbors? If the other houses all have snow on their roof but your roof is melted, then you got a problem, otherwise you're fine. Am I right?

We have no real details on his house to base this on.

Is it a subdivision home where the builder put in the same everywhere?

Or is it an older home that all the other houses on the street have had tons of work done over the years.

In the latter case your theory could be true.

musicgold wrote: ↑
Can this be done DIY?

Yes, Lowe's sells both cellulose and blown in fibreglass, Home Depot sells blown in fibreglass. Both sell the baffles and when you buy a certain number of bundles of insulation you get a free 24 hour rental of the machine. If you're ok working in the attic it's doable DIY.

If you measure the type and depth of insulation you currently have you can use https://www.greenfiber.com/support/insu ... calculator or http://insulation.owenscorning.ca/homeo ... =loosefill to calculate how many bundles of insulation you need to bring it from what you have to what you want. If you can get the proper price (1.00-1.50 sq ft like others are mentioning) do the calculation and see, you might only be saving a couple hundred going DIY and it may not be worth it.

Don't forget to insulate the hatch and you may also need to build a frame around it to prevent the insulation from falling out.

BeapChastard wrote: ↑ Did they show up unsolicited, or you called them first? NEVER accept any work from anyone who comes to your door unsolicited. They are most likely lying, or at least exaggerating about the work you need done in an attempt to rip you off, and even if they're not you still shouldn't hire them in order to discourage this type of behavior.

Thanks. Yes, unsoliciated. I just wanted them to inspect my attic and get an opnion on its state.

musicgold wrote: ↑ Thanks. Yes, unsoliciated. I just wanted them to inspect my attic and get an opnion on its state.

That's a no from me

Call EcoComfort if you're serious about it

You should never hire these types of companies that offer "free" inspections unsolicited. Sometimes they want to inspect your attic insulation, other times it's your furnace, other times it's your water quality, or something else... They inevitably always without exception find a problem, which they then offer to fix. Think about it this way, if they were a high quality reputable company, they wouldn't need to resort to this tactic to find work, they would have people coming to them.

musicgold wrote: ↑ Thanks. Yes, unsoliciated. I just wanted them to inspect my attic and get an opnion on its state.

Unsolicited inspections always "discover" you have a need for what they are selling. I'm sorry to say, but it was rather naive of you to assume you would get an unbiased opinion.

I never do business with companies that show up at my door or cold call me - even if I happen to be shopping for that service. I wish everybody had this policy, then the rest of us wouldn't be bothered by these people.

Cold calling sales is a bad enough thing when they call on the phone, much less than coming to your door and asking to come into your house unsolicited during a global pandemic. I would've told them to go away.

That being said, having just moved into an older home (1970's) I can tell you that there is a vast difference in temperature from the main floor to the 2nd floor and that is partially due to minimal insulation in the attic. It's easily 2-3 degrees cooler on the 2nd floor. I had it checked out by an inspector and a company that quotes for insulation installation and they said it was way too low. I found this "ad" at Home Depot showing the minimum R value insulation based on the age of the house build and I'm not surprised.

exrcoupe wrote: ↑ Cold calling sales is a bad enough thing when they call on the phone, much less than coming to your door and asking to come into your house unsolicited during a global pandemic. I would've told them to go away.

That being said, having just moved into an older home (1970's) I can tell you that there is a vast difference in temperature from the main floor to the 2nd floor and that is partially due to minimal insulation in the attic. It's easily 2-3 degrees cooler on the 2nd floor. I had it checked out by an inspector and a company that quotes for insulation installation and they said it was way too low. I found this "ad" at Home Depot showing the minimum R value insulation based on the age of the house build and I'm not surprised.


PXL_20201115_181754217.jpg

When the city does an inspection after a house is built, is the attic insulation not something they look for?

I had this done last year by Great Northern Insulation. 1100 sqft attic, going up to R60. Cost me 1000$ tax included. They did a great job

stacksonstacks wrote: ↑ Don't forget to insulate the hatch and you may also need to build a frame around it to prevent the insulation from falling out.

Also weather strip the hatch! And as for the frame around the hatch, yes, that's a good idea but you can also buy some batt insulation that is a little thicker than you are blowing in insulation and put that around the hatch - that's what I did and it works well. Having a bit of bat around is also good to build additional frames around things like chimneys as well.

musicgold wrote: ↑ Can this be done DIY?

If you are even thinking about DIY, then you are probably DIY it with very little problems other than putting aside a day where you and someone who can lift 50 lbs bales repeatedly into the blower. An attic of your size may take an hour or two at most of blowing. The cost of DIY will be substantially less (think 1/4 of the cost you were quoted).

Also, if you have room in your attic (I don't know how high your attic is), think of adding a bit more than the 16 inches while you are blowing as the incremental cost is small compared to the time and effort for the entire project.

timofeewho wrote: ↑ When the city does an inspection after a house is built, is the attic insulation not something they look for?

Yes, but minimum code of when the house is built is all that's required.

Lotek9119 wrote: ↑I had this done last year by Great Northern Insulation. 1100 sqft attic, going up to R60. Cost me 1000$ tax included. They did a great job

Was this via Costco? I got a quote by a third party and I think my attic is close to yours at 1100 sq ft and the quote was for about $2000. I might have to call them to get a quote.