# Several Insulation Quotes, Big Decisions to make



## knotquiteawake (Mar 15, 2012)

I've posted about the poor insulation in our new house earlier. So I finally got some quotes and for doing a really basic blow in and nothing more its pretty reasonable. Out of three quotes for doing just the blow in it was $580 $600 and $609. 

However, none of that addresses some of the draftiness going up into the attic, some of the missing vertical insulation on part of the vaulted ceiling, the lack of ventilation in the attic (no turbines/vents, only 4 soffits on the backside of the house, none up front).

So my initial budget was $1000 for insulation which all those quotes were far below.

Yesterday I had a guy out and he did a home energy audit, with the blower test and checking the vents for leaks (little to no leaks! yay!). His company does a whole package type deal, they make sure you are as air sealed as possible, install attic ventilation (2 turbines, more soffits up front), replace the missing insulation and re-secure the loose vertical insulation thats pulling away. 

Their quote for the whole deal was $2000, but they are part of a program with ONCOR (our energy provider) so ONCOR gives them money to do work on the older houses that fall below a minimum energy standard and our house is older and fell below that standard. So that drops the price by $600.

So it would be $1400 to air seal, replace missing insulation, resecure loose insulation, install two soffits up front, install two turbines up top, redo one section of twisted ducting where we had very low air flow, and blow in 7in fiberglass.

If I drop the air ducting part off (I already bought a window unit for that room because its got computers and needs its own temp anyways, it brings the price down to about $1200


So I've got to decide if its worth the extra $600 to get all that extra work done. I don't have the time to do this stuff myself, nor the known-how. I would have to rely heavily on my Father-In-Laws help and I think I've already tapped that resource too much this month with all the help moving and fixing other things as well.

What say ye insulation and home energy gurus? 

The house is $1450sqft, built in '86, and the AC is working pretty well with an avg temp of 15-20 degrees between return and register.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Sounds ok, except the vents. I would have suggested ridge vents. Looks far better, no moving parts, vents the whole roof not just a circle.


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## knotquiteawake (Mar 15, 2012)

The roof was just replaced in February so the less I do to the roof the better. I'm not worried about looks as this will be on the backside of the house, not visible from the street.


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