The day had arrived, the day I had wanted to occur for years, why had we waited so long to for attic insulation installation day? Not sure, but life gets in the way of good ideas and home improvements often times, and this year, despite all of our challenges, we were going to make it happen! I have had years of crappy ice dams occur on our roof line, causing damage, and making life generally worrisome and difficult. Most of the years we have lived in our home, the snow was very slight. We had very dry snow conditions during the years of 2004 to 2010. Our record snowfall year, was 2010-2011. Here are some crazy weather statistics for Minneapolis, and being south of the cities, our totals have always been a bit higher. Looking at the chart below, the actual snowfall totals for Minneapolis and St. Paul are on the right column, and they were very slight during the 2004-2010 period.
Snowfall Records From Climate-UMN.EDU
Ice Dams Motivated Attic Insulation Installation Day
The reason we did not proceed to add attic insulation installation until 2011, really is due to our snowfall amounts, that were so easy and not large dumps of snow. The heavy snow storms just missed us year after year, and we really did not have large collective snowfall amounts unless you count 2000-2001, when we had 30 inches in December alone. This one year, was a big ice dam year for us, and the reason this makes a difference, is when large snow blankets your roof, and heat escapes and melts the snow, ice dams are there, the entire winter.
Here is one of my videos, showcasing what we had to do each year, which was hiring a team to clear our roof of snow.
As you can clearly see, our attic did not keep the heat from escaping from our living spaces, and the roof has no recourse, but to melt snow when the heat hits it. With this situation, our ice dams were inevitable, and the attic insulation installation was the perfect answer!
Our Attic ON Attic Insulation Installation Day
With the addition of Insulation in our Attic, it made really good sense to hire a team to help us on attic insulation installation day, and we worked with Retrofoam of Minnesota.
Retrofoam Of MN Our Attic Insulation Installation Team
We met with Joe England, and he gave us great support and advice. My husband and I were ready to add insulation, but I really wanted to add the next step, foam in the Eaves, and in the walls. My husband is not convinced, and unfortunately for me, he wanted to only add cellulose and seal the attic. I took a deep sigh, as sometimes compromise is mostly hubby getting his way, but I agreed to wait until next year, 2012, to add the foam. He wanted to see how the team did, and see how this simple addition would work for us.
I did some research, and to rent the cellulose blower, and buy insulation from a Big Box Store, would be around $1500. We would be spending around the same to hire Retrofoam of MN, and we spent $1560 for the labor and the materials. Joe had the team come out on November 3, and they added canned spray foam around leaks, and sealed the attic from our living space. They removed an antenna from the attic, which was a crazy idea from previous owners. They then added Cellulose, chutes to ensure proper ventilation, and brought our attic up to an insulation factor of R60. We had great support from Joe, and from the team that came. They did much more than we would have done on our own, getting into the small spaces of the attic to seal it completely from the living spaces of our home. We would have not done this precise and extensive work on our own, and I know it would have been very stressful and exhausting for us, as we would have had to hire a team to help. My husband cannot do much, as he has a disability, and because of this, we would have had more time spent working on the attic.
All being said, the day started around 9am, and the team left around 3. It was more work than I thought it would be, and I was really impressed. I cannot wait to have attic insulation installation day become foam installation day!
