Insulation, Radiant and Vapor Barriers - Home Insulation experience?

Hello,

We recently had an Energy Star home assessment done of a home in Queens, New York, and as we suspected, the house does not perform very well. What we didn't know was that we have no insulation in the exterior walls, and no insulation between the garage ceiling, which is under a bedroom upstairs that is often extremely cold.

The report recommends adding cellulose insulation for the home at a cost of nearly $6k. While we'd like to insulate the home, we have some concerns:

1) Has anyone successfully reduced their heating/cooling bills with cellulose insulation? We've heard stories of cellulose settling and being ineffective. Should we do foam insulation instead? Could we do foam insulation ourselves rather than hire someone to do it?

2) The report estimates that we'd see a reduction in our bill of nearly 50%. Has anyone here had that much of a reduction using cellulose?

I know it's hard to answer this without seeing the report, so if anyone has any words of wisdom for use we'd love to hear them. We are afraid of spending the $6k, especially since we plan on selling the home in approx 4-5 years.

Thanks!

There is an old saying - "Something in the wall is better than nothing at all"

You will definitely save money by insulating.

Cellulose is a widely accepted insulation, as are similar loose bulk materials.

Foam can be a good insulator. Today it is better than the material depicted in the horror stories of a few years ago. The key is to get a good application filling all voids AND having a foam that does not shrink with time. Many foams can shrink tremendously, leaving you with some pieces of foam rattling around in a vois between joists. It is not a DIY project. It ewquires reained applicators, so look for established firms with trained applicators.

Despite claims, in the real world, all the insulation applied between joists preforms about the same. This is because of the effect of infiltration that non of the foams can guarantee to eliminate. These claims also do not address the heat loss through the joists that represent about 10% of the wall that is not insulated.

Dick

I would say right off the bat you killed any reason to do the project.

You're moving in 4-5 years.

The pay off period for a $6k project tends to be long term. I guarantee that if you advertise your house and say 'Hey, we paid 6k to insulate the walls!" you're not going to get +6k to your sale price.

5 years = 60 months. 6k / 60 months = $100 per month.
The person selling your insulation says you'll cut your bills by 50%.
My gut feeling is that number is quite high, but even if you go with it - Do you currently spend $200 per month on heating/cooling?

Save your 6k for your next house where you'll be the one receiving the benefit 6 years from now.

I would question the company who gave you the Energy Star assessment. One being the cost of the insulation. The other is the type of insulation recommended.

You should get another estimate and more than one.

I would strongly recommend you check with your local building officials if cellulose is permitted for use in your area.