Insulation, Radiant and Vapor Barriers - Insulation Estimate Advice

Hi,

I was wondering if I could get some help.

Here is a bid I recently received:

* Attic- $950.00
* Exterior Walls- $2,900.00

This contractor recommended installing it from the outside. The number I am concerned with is the Exterior Walls cost. It seems expensive to me.

I have a two story house with about 1330sqft of living space including downstairs. It's about 1000 sqft upstairs.

Are these costs reasonable?

Thanks!

Alex

You need to get a few more estimates to get a feel for what is right. I'd say at least three. Fwiw, my house is 2000 sqft and i received an estimate for $2200 for all the walls and $1000 for the attic. Since i didnt have the money for all that i read up alot and took the plunge to do it myself. The attic is easy to do with some research and if you dont have any physical problems getting up there and moving around. The walls however were an enormous job to do diy at least for me. I did them from the inside and drilled all the holes etc...a lot of work but i did it right and saved a bunch. One thing though after i was all done i realized that the 2 grand for that job (the walls) was just about the right price considering $500-$600 materials and ALL that labor it entailed.

Thanks!

I will definitely get more bids and post them on here.

I did have two other contractors come in, but they both recommended doing the walls from the inside. They could only do the two bedrooms in my house. The other rooms were either tiled bathroom, kitchen, and the living room had wooden paneling on it, so they couldn't do it. Additionally, the majority of the downstairs rooms had the paneling also, so they couldn't insulate the downstairs walls either.

One guy quoted me $638 for attic using fiberglass and $686 for the two bedrooms from the inside.

The other guy quoted me $1125 for the attic using cellulose and $420 for the two bedrooms from the inside.

Personally, I would prefer if they did do it from the outside, so that more of the exterior walls would be covered. However, if it's going to be enormously expensive, I probably would decide against it.

Would you say it is alot better to do the whole house rather than just the two bedrooms of the house?

Thanks,

Alex

I would say its better to do what you can afford, and that includes learning a little bit and see what you can do yourself. Like i said normally attics are easy to do for cellulose but it depends on your condition and the attic. Your biggest heatloss is thru the attic so start there. Do you know what is in the walls right now? One thing i have to add though is did anyone ever mention a thing about airsealing your attic and weatherstripping anywhere? Airsealing is extremely important and can really save dollars when combined with good insulation especially since its so cheap to do. I would do a google for airsealing and also read alot of threads on here about it. Keep in mind that in terms of return on investment (ROI) the biggest bang for the buck normally goes like this: Airsealing of attic bypasses/weatherstripping> attic insulation> basement bandjoist insulation> wall insulation. Again do what you can afford, learn to do the easy stuff if you can. I would also rather have cellulose in the attic than fiberglass cause it does a much better job of sealing.

ditto on the advice from d00bs. If you would like to review what your house may need feel free to list current insulation or lack there of. As stated, there are things you SHOULD do before insulating and some that are more important.

Bud

I just found out that my attic has knob and tube wiring. One contractor would not insulate my attic because of that. The other contractors never said knob and tube was a problem.

Is it ok to insulate over knob and tube wiring in the attic?

To be honest with you, I would not insulate now and take that money and re wire you whole house! I had some of that in my house when I moved in and the thought of it, just made me cringe!! It was only in the attic, but my father in law and I ended up just rewiring the whole house.
I am not sure about your question though, if you can insulate or not over that stuff. GOOD LUCK!!

I think re-wiring the house is a good idea. Seems like I come across one problem after another. =(

Any idea of the cost of re-wiring the house using a contractor?

Thanks,

Alex