Our house is about a 15 year old ranch with basement, vaulted ceilings in most of the upstairs

Just thinking an improvement in insulation would make a big difference in the heating and cooling

Our last house was a 30+ year old Cape Cod style house and we couldn't get the upstairs to cool in the summer. I hired a company to come out and blow insulation in the attic, there was an immediate difference in the temperatures, energy costs and effort of the HVAC system. The reason I didn't do it my self was the access is tiny and there was only a couple of feet of room between the ceiling and the roof, I'm a big guy, not happening. Our new house I can walk up there in the attic and could rent a machine at HD and do it myself

https://www.homedepot.com/p/re...AvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds


Wanting to hear from folks who have the spray foam insulation, the cost difference and is it better than blown??

ETA: not opposed to hiring someone for blown or spray foam, just depends on cost

I have a 2400 square foot home. Paid 700 bucks for guy to blow in insulation. Savings was huge. I would not want to do it myself.

Spray foam will provide a tighter air seal, however will be significantly more costly. There are also two different choices to choose from. Closed cell and Open Cell. The closed cell provides a higher R Value, however requires special equipment and knowledge of application. Spray it on to heavy in a single coat and it could combust.

If it's something your looking at doing yourself go with a blow in product and blow in to reach an R60 value.

This may vary with different climates but in warmer climates and wood frame homes it is better to have blown in rather than foam.
The reason is that it is necessary for vapor to evacuate and breathe.
Foam can trap moisture.
Here in Texas especially we insulate to keep cool rather than for heat.
Exception might be if you have a metal building or an air tight home.
Using a radiant barrier in roof as well as ridge vent to naturally flow the air are the best here in Texas.
I imagine Georgia is similar.
YMMV

quote:

ranch ... vaulted ceilings in most of the upstairs

This statement right here may have turned this from straightforward to you may do more harm than good.

Vaulted ceilings are done a couple different ways. Is it just high ceilings (i.e. can walk around in the attic) or is it truly vaulted ceilings where there is no attic? If it's the former, you still have to insure airflow above the insulated space (e.g. baffles so air flows from soffett to ridge vent) but it's easy to accomplish with adding more blown in insulation. If it's the latter, it's extremely difficult to retrofit and very easy to ruin the airflow above the insulated space and cause new problems.

We had sprayed foam insulation in the old house. Made the home very quiet. It it was only in the walls. The house was on piers about three feet off the ground and they put fiberglass batts under and in the attic.

Would I do it again, yes. But the house we bought here in TX was already under construction when we bought it and it has fiberglass in the walls and some kinda white lumpy stuff in the attic that doesn’t itch.

If we build another new home I’ll have spray foam done.

Our bills in NC were $50 less then the neighbor who had the same size house but had fiberglass. Both built w/i a year of each other-same builder.

As others have said, depends on how your attic is vented/constructed. You can do a lot of damage installing foam wrong. There are also two types of foam: closed cell and open cell. Closed cell is better as it will NOT absorb moisture while Open cell WILL. Typically, if you are using foam you want to seal the entire envelope of a "new" home with say 1" of closed cell, then use a more economical insulation on top of that such as fiberglass batt, open cell, etc.

There are a lot of quality videos on the subjects by experts in the industry if you go Googling.

I have 3.5”-4" of closed cell spray foam under the sheathing of my roof all the way tops of my walls. My attic is completely sealed off as other posters have pointed out. It’s really quiet inside my house.

I had it done around 2005. It was expensive at $10,000, but I had no water intrusion and lost no soffit during Ian. The neighbors on both sides and across the street all lost soffit, had water in their attics, and had their ceilings collapse in various parts of their homes. Our houses were all built by General Development Corporation in the early 70s.

Part of the cost was a PITA factor because my roof has a really low pitch and there isn’t much room to work in my attic. It would have been a lot less expensive for new construction.

Open cells is an invitation to large problems.

Our barn was sprayed with closed cell, and is fairly comfortable- I do remember hearing things about it having issues with wood.

My houses in SC have lots of fiberglass or rock wool, depending on how much I wanted to reduce the noise.

quote:

Originally posted by Aglifter:
Our barn was sprayed with closed cell, and is fairly comfortable- I do remember hearing things about it having issues with wood.

The Big Question – Open Cell foam vs Closed cell foam ?

After comparing the two types of spray foam insulations, you’d probably now want to know which is best for you and your home/property. Both Icynene open cell and closed cell spray insulation are effective insulators, with both working as barriers for air leakage. However, open cell and closed cell have their different uses.

When it comes to insulating a home – whether that’s a roof insulation or floor insulation – it is ideal to use Icynene open cell spray foam. This is due to the structural properties of open cell spray foam, which enables the foam to encapsulate air and expand. This therefore makes this type of spray foam roofing the perfect option for homes as it is breathable, preventing the timbers from rotting.

Whereas, Icynene closed cell is more suitable for projects that have a metal frame structure, such as: a crate: a boat; and other similar constructions. This is a result of Icynene closed cell having a rigid and dense structure, due to the foam minimising the air that is encased in its bubbles. This is ideal for preventing air and water leakage, however not so much for timbers. Hence, closed cell spray foam predominately being used on metal framed structures rather than homes.


https://www.evergreenpoweruk.c...ray-foam-insulation/

I had my garage done with blown insulation but regret it. It gets everywhere you don't want it and has to be reapplied in time, to get keep the same R value,especially here in Fl.. If I had to do again, I would get the spray foam or paperback insulation,like the rest of the house. The spray foam is great but I would also check for problems in the roof prior(damaged plywood or OSB-especially, if you happen to have that), and repair first.

Got a couple of quotes for blown insulation, about $2500 for R-38 and $3300 for R-50, 2500 sq ft



Will the R-50 be worth it? Needed?

What's your attic like? Is it just a flat floor? What insulation does it have now?

I'm wondering if you could buy rolls of fiberglass and just roll it out yourself?