The Historic District

Mick_VT wrote:

Lily left the valley wrote:

Neighmond wrote:You sure that ain't a curtain stretcher?

Neighmond! You nailed it! *dances around*

Maybe we need a "what on earth is thing thingamajig?" thread in the antiques emporium

Not a bad idea!

...you bought your house two years ago and haven't lived on the first floor yet.

Although as we get close, Jess and I feel like we are discovering a house for the first time as the attics furniture is all of a sudden relevant!

Your spouse posts before and after pics of the new electrical box on his FB Old House Owners group - and received over 300 likes by morning.

your exercise regiment involves stair climbing , ladder climbing, digging holes, scraping paint. carrying drywall, pulling weeds, holding sheets of drywall against the ceiling by yourself with your head while standing on a chair tipee-toed and simultaneously trying to get a screw stuck in your drill. just for fun you drop your only two screws on the floor. You do pushups every time the phone rings or slither through ditrt floors and rats nests if you happen to be in the crawlspace. Your sports gear is made by companies like Levis and Carhartt and Dakota. you do the long jump either because you have "mother in law stairs" ( no front stairs) or no time to move the blasted vacuum cleaner. your balance beam looks a lot like a row of joist with no planking. you sweep the floor for relaxation.

...the notion of "standard width" (and even depth) insulation seems a simplistically quaint concept when the spacing between the joists of your attic are never exactly the same twice, even when they happen to be within an inch of each other--especially when most seem randomly sistered to whatever piece was needed to apparently use every last inch and not waste any wood.

Thank goodness for Roxul is all I'm going to say. So easy to cut, so it lessens the headache. No wonder everyone wants to do loose fill and spray foam for retrofits on older homes.

I think the most interesting thing is I'm start to see patterns in when the sistering happens. I don't know enough engineering to know if it's math based, or grasp why the pattern may have been chosen due to lengths and not wanting to waste, but noticing the patterns that aren't immediately evident are helping me not go insane as I install piece by piece as the wind whistles through the attic. If I ever do figure it out, I know I'll feel like a genius, that's for certain.

If it doesn't fit well I just go the other way and turn it 90 degrees. I dont' know if that is the preferred method but I dont' think Ill take my walls apart to change it if it isn't

I like Roxul too ,it does better than pink as sound insulation. I love that it isn't so itchy.
what I do is stuff it in and I have a big spool of heavy fishing line so I just staple that up and run the fishing line back and forth. I know it should stay all in there in a perfect world, but for ceilings especially it stays put that way.

it doesn't compare to the foam board for insulation though. I'm starting to see this stuff more often in the stores and it's nice to use too. More pricey though. super easy to cut with a handsaw and comes in 4x8 sheets. you can use the caned spray foam stuff to seal the edges so it makes it really solid. You have to strap it temporarily or the foam will push it back out. then remove the straps and trim any ooze out when its dry. i think if you used , say 2" you could do an attic and leave the remaining 1.5" to cool the roof and not need the baffles.

I got some for free that was 4" stuff, the studs are 3.5 so I sliced it thinner and used the scraps somewhere else, used it up..

maybe the roxul breathes more, the foil serves as vapor barrier and it doesn't absorb water, it's closed cell.

https://www.lowes.ca/foam-board-insulat ... 45375.html

I got a whole bunch of pink from a guy that had his fancy garage done. it had a rollup glass double pane door so he had a view of the city from the mountaintop. they spared no expense, only used full pieces so I got all the trimmings plus a couple new bags. I dont' care if it's little pieces, Ill use it up and it's free.. if you check craigslist , it's fairly common people have some to spare as it's awkward to store and you can't really buy small quantities so if you hunt a little you can get it free pretty easily too.

...when you want to talk about your house with someone you don't know well, you first ask "Say, do you like old houses?" Because you know whatever the answer is will totally affect what you talk about.

phil wrote:If it doesn't fit well I just go the other way and turn it 90 degrees. I dont' know if that is the preferred method but I dont' think Ill take my walls apart to change it if it isn't
{snip}
maybe the roxul breathes more, the foil serves as vapor barrier and it doesn't absorb water, it's closed cell.

I thought I replied to this! That's what I did, Phil. Far easier to cut a straight line with a breadknife in an attic on shorter runs. The seams between will also be diminished when we finally start getting the second layer up there, as that will only have seams per batt.

I've read that Roxul breathes better, but I've not seen a scientific study about it. I do know it won't gas you to death nearly as fast (if at all) if your home catches on fire, though. Although the closed cell may be more rodent proof, from what I've read Roxul sheds water well. (FWIW, they recently rebranded to Rockwool, which is what they've been selling as in Europe. I still call it Roxul out of habit.)

i used some boards to hold it in when I pray foamed, so the ISO board couldnt push itself out. I just put plastic between so it doesn't stick to the board.

In the end I had a few boards with some of the spray foam on them and tossed them in the fire. Yes they made a lot of thick black smoke and I think the ISO board is pretty much the same thing. I'm not chemist but I think it is pretty much just the same as the spray foam, foamed up crazy glue basically judging by how it sticks if you get it on your skin. the carpets, curtains, beds couches and a lot of clothing would also make a lot of this super toxic smoke.

phil wrote:i used some boards to hold it in when I pray foamed, so the ISO board couldnt push itself out. I just put plastic between so it doesn't stick to the board.

In the end I had a few boards with some of the spray foam on them and tossed them in the fire. Yes they made a lot of thick black smoke and I think the ISO board is pretty much the same thing. I'm not chemist but I think it is pretty much just the same as the spray foam, foamed up crazy glue basically judging by how it sticks if you get it on your skin. the carpets, curtains, beds couches and a lot of clothing would also make a lot of this super toxic smoke.

Before we get scolded for thread straying, I started a new one about this topic: Open flame test on different insulation types - vid

Thanks Lily , that was an interesting video and gave a great visual comparison.