# dirty nasty job



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Why can you not just use a rake or a hoe and move the insulation to where it needs to be?
Sure it not because there's not enough insulation?
Your area calls for R40 to 50, that's 12".


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

i don't think putting insulation over the holes would stop it much. 

the office and bedroom have the cellulose on them. the bathroom and utility room (that is below and out of the pic) do not have any new insulation on them, just old stuff, and some other old stuff that i just "dumped" there. plus some cellulose that happened to blow over there = couple inches or so. the bath and utility rooms, i have not reno'd those rooms yet. the bathroom, some time, someone, built a ceiling under the old/original ceiling. they didn't bother to air seal. so who knows what is back there, though i kind of have an idea. 

the red areas is where i am seeing a bare roof when it snows or frosts. 4" snow = bare spot. 
this is where i have to get to  with a brush and a can of spray foam. 
i am thinking THANKSGIVING weekend is the time to do it.
and i am thinking that when i do stop these leaks,my gas bill is going to drop a lot. and it isn't very high to begin with (compared to my neighbors)


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

A haz-mat suit, after you are done throw it out in yesterdays garbage. 

A rake should move the material away temporarily, then back in.


ED


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

yeah, something like this. but where to get it, not online ?
https://www.google.com/#q=hazmat+suit&tbm=shop&spd=13554514795140866711


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Surely in the Chicago area there is a surplus type store, and a police uniform store, or a survivalist store. 


Or similar.

ED


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

You're kidding!!! Just do it then take a shower and put your clothes in the laundry. You do know that cellulose is only paper, right?


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## tylercreator (Oct 6, 2014)

Rinse with cold water first to get excess off your skin then wash with warm-hot water to get it out of your pores. Wash clothes on cold water by themselves.


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## ront02769 (Nov 28, 2008)

As already stated, no need for cold showers since it is just PAPER. Still worried? Go to big box and grab some tyvek coveralls, cost about ten bucks. Ron


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## ProGreen (Oct 2, 2014)

Fix'N it, I feel your pain as I'm also doing a Dirty Nasty Job in our crawl spaces. I gear up as follows: jeans (in case of nails) and turtle neck, then heavy duty white painters gown with hood (protect neck from spiders) with rubber bands where they end on arms, shoe covers, knee pads, winter cotton hat pulled down over ears (ear plugs as needed), N5 rebreather mask with pinch-able nose piece, and plastic eye goggles (get good ones to avoid fogging). You can get a number of wears out of the HD or Lowe's heavy duty gown ($9.99) as long as it doesn't get torn). When done, remove all and throw clothes right in wash to get off cellulose or, in my case dirt and fiberglass. Shower as above. Only item I've not been able to find is plastic eye googles that look like glasses with a 2 to 3 mm ledge over them to protect your eyes from dirt dropping from above. 

Biggest job often the anticipation when just gowning up; do hard jobs first then easier. My spirits improves once I'm actually in the space moving and doing it. Take care, watch for potential falling risks, and let us know how it goes.


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

ProGreen said:


> Fix'N it, I feel your pain as I'm also doing a Dirty Nasty Job in our crawl spaces. I gear up as follows: jeans (in case of nails) and turtle neck, then heavy duty white painters gown with hood (protect neck from spiders) with rubber bands where they end on arms, shoe covers, knee pads, winter cotton hat pulled down over ears (ear plugs as needed), N5 rebreather mask with pinch-able nose piece, and plastic eye goggles (get good ones to avoid fogging). You can get a number of wears out of the HD or Lowe's heavy duty gown ($9.99) as long as it doesn't get torn). When done, remove all and throw clothes right in wash to get off cellulose or, in my case dirt and fiberglass. Shower as above. Only item I've not been able to find is plastic *eye googles* that look like glasses with a 2 to 3 mm ledge over them to protect your eyes from dirt dropping from above.
> 
> Biggest job often the anticipation when just gowning up; do hard jobs first then easier. My spirits improves once I'm actually in the space moving and doing it. Take care, watch for potential falling risks, and let us know how it goes.


*"EYE GOOGLES"* 
Wouldn't that be "eye goggles"?
This is exactly what this nation is becoming...a population of pansies that just want to sit at a keyboard and do nothing else. Where are the "worker bees"?

Just be glad you pansies aren't living in Texas where crawl spaces are the home of rattle snakes and copperheads and scorpions and brown recluses.

AMAZING !!!:yes:


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Bud: take a "chill pill", no one likes insulation, dirt, and other foreign objects in their underwear. 


SHEESH.


ED


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

de-nagorg said:


> Bud: take a "chill pill", no one likes insulation, dirt, and other foreign objects in their underwear.
> SHEESH.
> ED


 
Oh for God's sake...where's your sense of humor? Maybe you are the one needing a "chill-pill".
Why would you be putting such things in your underwear to begin with?


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Bud Cline said:


> Oh for God's sake...where's your sense of humor? Maybe you are the one needing a "chill-pill".
> Why would you be putting such things in your underwear to begin with?


Right back at ya.


ED


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## ProGreen (Oct 2, 2014)

Bud Cline said:


> *"EYE GOOGLES"*
> Wouldn't that be "eye goggles"?
> This is exactly what this nation is becoming...a population of pansies that just want to sit at a keyboard and do nothing else. Where are the "worker bees"?
> 
> ...


Haha, Bud. I'm a sixty year old female working on my hands and knees and stomach in these crawls (about 1000 sq ft) so I'm no pansy. It's poured mice poop, squirrel nasty's and FG on me for months now in those crawls, but I closed those vents first thing and you're right, worst I've seen is Wolf spiders and dried up centipedes. Point is, if you gown up right your less likely to take a bite or nail in the a** or knee or dust in the EYE which is most painful. All's well though, "google" obviously was a freudian slip probs cuz I hate going in but I get your joke and don't mind, friend.


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

ProGreen said:


> Haha, Bud. I'm a sixty year old female working on my hands and knees and stomach in these crawls (about 1000 sq ft) so I'm no pansy. It's poured mice poop, squirrel nasty's and FG on me for months now in those crawls, but I closed those vents first thing and you're right, worst I've seen is Wolf spiders and dried up centipedes. Point is, if you gown up right your less likely to take a bite or nail in the a** or knee or EYE which is most painful. All's well though, "google" obviously was a freudian slip probs cuz I hate going in but I get your joke and don't mind, friend.


Well at least someone has a sense of humor. I wasn't digging, I just got a small innocent laugh out of it and made the mistake of going public with it. I try to hold my comments but once in a while I just can't help myself. Seems like there is always someone lurking in the background waiting for an opportunity to jump a person's asss for no good reason. Carry on, I appreciate your apprehensions.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

Bud. that may have been a joke. but it really is getting that way. this country is turning into a bunch of panssie ass's. 

but, the reason i am asking for ways to do what i want = is so i don't make a BIG FREAKING MESS after i get done up there. 20 mins to do the job, and 2 hours to clean up = :no: . regular cloths, that cellulose will stick like no ones business. one of the hazmat suits = a quick brush off and i'm done. and chances are that i will have to be up & down a few times getting what i need to do the job = walking all through the house while covered in paper, however clean it is, will just get the chit all over the place. 

so. what i am thinking. one off those toe to hood suits, and some large cardboard pieces (to make it easier to wiggle in there). should make short(er) work of get'n-it-done. now, what i will need to actually do the job, god only knows.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

i got up there today. just an exploritory mission. i had a bunch of large cardboard that i laid out. so not only did that help me from getting very dirty, it very much helping support me and made it much easier to get down to where i had to get. i also had on a $3 painter suit on. 

anyway. i didn't move anything around. and i didn't see any problems. i have to wait till its colder out, about 50d right now, so that my temp gun can pick up on the warm area. probably turkey day weekend.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

i got up there yesterday. temp gun was a BIG help. turns out there was a 2"x2" hole in a top plate. and it was connected to the hidden ceiling above the not yet touched bathroom and BR closets. so, come spring, i am going to remove the old P&L ceiling, air seal and insulate.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Sounds like a plan. 

Good for you in keepin on, fixin it. 



ED


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

i forgot to say that i SF'd it. so it isn't leaking any more.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Good temp fix, that sized hole can leak $$$$$$$$$$ out to fly away forever. 



ED


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

Bud Cline said:


> Where are the "worker bees"?


Rattlesnakes and copperheads got us. :laughing:


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

here is what i am dealing with. the left window is the laundry room, it isn't much wider than that window. the back corner of the house with the bare spot on the roof, it has some insulation. but other than that i have not touch that area yet...
right window is a bedroom. and where the bare spot is, is where i did the fix. the fix that obviously i didn't completely fix. but i did make the bare spot much smaller. to the right of that bare spot, where you can see the boarded up used to be window (decades ago) = there are 2 closets right there, and in front of those, towards the center of the house, is the bathroom. these ceilings i have not touched. though there is old insulation piled up there.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

oh. i have noticed a 3-4 minute extension in the time that the furnace is off. so, when i do get those leaks fixed, that should add 5-6 min to that. so that would be 9 min on, and 30 min off. at 30deg outside temp.


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