# Adding Insulation



## marly (Nov 14, 2008)

I live in the midwest and have a home built in 2008. It has R38 fiberglass blown in insulation, which I'm sure is the minium for my area. 

My question is, does anyone think ti would be worth it to add a few more inches of blown insulation to increase it to a R60? It would be almost twice as much as I have now.

Thanks, 

marly


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## Allison1888 (Mar 16, 2008)

*insulation*

Here are the guidelines from Energy Star:

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home_sealing.hm_improvement_insulation_table


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## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

Blown fiberglass or blown cellulose? Spider pack or ?

http://infrared-energy.com/files/SpecialReportAtticInsulationProblems.pdf

How much more are you willing to spend for so little? 

http://www.enersavesystems.com/pdf/Economic-Thickness-of-Thermal-Insulation.pdf

Did they air seal first? Are there baffles? Is there a house wrap on the attic side of the knee walls? More details and pictures would help your general question........

Gary


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## marly (Nov 14, 2008)

Thanks for your links. 

The Cellulose seems like a much better product than fiberglass. It seems like a much safer product too, but we’re not sleeping or spending much time in the attic to mess with it. 

From reading links I don’t think I’ll see much return than what I’m getting. The most in one month I spent on gas was $90 and it hit 10 below zero several days in a row and has been very cold until today (95 degrees). Even if I got a 50% return it would probably take my life time to see any savings. 

I’ll have to keep the cellulose product in mind for my text house. 

Thanks for the info.


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## vsheetz (Sep 28, 2008)

If at R38, there is only small ROI in going to more.


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## ryanxo (Jun 7, 2011)

I've been researching this myself and from what I have heard and read getting any higher than R-38 if you all ready have that much will not be that much benefit to you. Air sealing between the house and the attic though seems to help. Probably more so for my warm climate than your freezing coldness. I couldn't handle 10 below!


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## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

You're welcome! Glad we could help. Most anything is better than f.g., even in the walls. 
Some info I put together; http://www.diychatroom.com/f98/biggest-loser-fiberglass-insulation-90438/

Gary


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## HomeInsulation (May 25, 2011)

Hey Marly,

If you're planning on making your home more energy efficient and comfortable, you may be able to get a bigger bang for your buck by air sealing your basement or making your HVAC system air tight. 

Is your basement already finished? 

If not, walk around and inspect the contractors work. Unfortunately, it's quite rare that they air seal the service penetrations (electrical, cable, gas and water lines) and rim joists or insulate the basement walls.

If you see fiberglass insulation jammed up in the rim joists areas...they are probably not air sealed properly. You could probably save more money air sealing the rim joists than adding R20 to your attic.


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