Something that I dread doing:

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My house is an almost 50 year old Cape Cod style, with a full shed dormer.

Upstairs, at the front of the house is a storage area that runs the full width of the house. It's triangular in shape, 7' high at the bedroom walls and about 8' at the floor and 32' long. There is old insulation on the back of the bedroom walls and on the sloping part of the roof.

Here's the problem. My adult daughter has decided that the old insulation is making her allergies worse and wants to rip down the old insulation and put up new -- all by herself. There will be no stopping her!

She barely knows how to hold a hammer. I'm the one who has years of DIY experience, and I'm certain that I'm going to get roped into this nonsensical, unnecessary and miserable job.

Right now, there are bales of new insulation crowding the dining room awaiting tomorrow.

Anyone with experience in making this job easier?

[packman]

1. One STRONG bit of advice

wear a mask. If she has allergies, tearing that crap out needs to be approached with caution.
Turn off heat and air returns (if any in room ). Also , tent the room off -that crap is going to go everywhere. Also, I hope there is a window to pitch the crap out of rather than carry it thru another area. Also, if you can fit it in - get a large window type fan and reverse set it so it blows OUT of the room carrying dust and particles out. Finally, when all is ripped out - vacuum, vacuum and then vacuum the room again before installing new insulation. Be aware of vapor barrier if using unfaced insulation battens.
READ some books on this. Not hard. THe true bitch is putting up the drywall over new insulation.

Probably too late now seeing you've bought the insulation, but did you consider letting a pro do the expanding foam insulation which is tighter fitting, fewer problems, and more energy efficient?

Had to laugh at this:
I'm the one who has years of DIY experience, and I'm certain that I'm going to get roped into this nonsensical, unnecessary and miserable job.

Ain't that the truth- .

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2. Thanks for the tips!

I hadn't thought of the fan, nor tossing the insulation out of a nearby window.

I have a shop vac, and will be bringing that upstairs to vacuum, vacuum and vacuum some more.

We have baseboard heat, so no problem about fiberglass bits in the ducts -- no ducts!

Not to worry about drywall either. It's an attic-type storage area that never had drywall to begin with and won't have any now.

[Sherman A1]

3. All good advice

and I would add. YouTube can be your friend. I am sure there are some videos on there about this type of project! They would be worthy of a look prior to starting.


Good Luck!

[blackcrowflies]

4. INDEPENDENCE

She'll never learn how to do things for herself if you take over and do them for her. And she WANTS to do it herself. What are you thinking?

Also, mask, safety glasses, hair covered, etc.

[Adsos Letter]

5. And arms covered, and NO hot shower afterwards...

Lukewarm shower only.

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6. Insulation Update

All went fairly well except for a second trip to the home store because I bought the wrong size staples for the tack stapler.

My daughter did 80% of the work by herself -- stripping the old insulation (filthy and matted), putting in the new, crawling into the tight spaces and moving around items that were stored there.

I did have to help some. My job turned out to be cutting the insulation. I set up a cutting station in the basement and whipped right through it.

We didn't finish the entire job. Exhaustion set in! But it will get done this weekend.

Now for another problem: We need an emergency septic tank pumping today. Had a backup, but luckily it was just clean water (but all over the basement floor). Septic guy can come, thank goodness!