Blown in insulation in house with fiberglass batts
I have a 1950’s vintage Ranch. I completely gutted the kitchen last year and got a good look at the level of insulation in the house. It has paperfaced fiberflass batts, but it old,shrunk, and kinda spotty. My house is horriblly drafty and I want to upgrade the entire house exterior insulation. I reinsalted all the exposed walls i could. My question is can I get blown in celluse in the exterior wall with the current batts in there or do I need to remove them first. And if so whas the best way to remove those batts with out totally ruining my walls?
Replies
You can easily (and to good effect) blow insulation over existing batts in an attic, but I think it's kinda iffy in the walls. You could talk to some installers about your options, I suppose.
You're talking about blowing
You're talking about blowing cellulose into closed walls that already have FG in them? That won't work, not even close. You need to remove the FG and you'll need to remove some sheetrock to do it. Cellulose itself will not stop all of the drafts you have, but it will probably help.
If you're going to put cellulose in the attic, remove the FG first and then lay it on top of the cellulose if you want to.
I had cellulose blown into my attic last Fall. The installer blew it OVER the FG batts that were on the floor of the attic - you suggest just the opposite? First the cellulose and on top put the old FG sheets?
Thanks, Mike
Nothing wrong with putting cellulose over fiberglass batts. The batts will compress a bit, but so what?