LESLIE: Gary in Texas has an insulation question. What can we do for you today?
GARY: I just had a new air conditioner installed and, in the process, my contractor suggested that I get some additional insulation. And what I have existing is that – I don’t know what it’s called but it’s white and fluffy. And he says that particular product packs down too much and he recommended we put fiberglass insulation in instead, to freshen it up. And I wanted to see what you guys thought of that.
LESLIE: Is the white and fluffy stuff, Tom, the blown-in?
GARY: Yes, is it blown-in? Yeah, somebody said it was like a CertainTeed product. If you wad it up, it almost feels like cotton if you ball it up in your hands.
TOM: Oh, that’s blown-in.
GARY: Yes.
TOM: Yeah, that’s blown-in insulation. Yeah, there’s no reason you can’t put more fiberglass on top of that. You want to have 19 inches of fiberglass and 22 inches of blown-in. Since you have half and half, I don’t know; I would go for the 22, I guess. (Leslie chuckles)
GARY: Alright. Well, that sounds about right, then, because he was planning to add about 18 inches of fiberglass on top of what we have, so that sounds about right.
TOM: (overlapping voices) OK.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Mm-hmm. And what you want to do, Gary, is you want to make sure that in the bays between the floor joists or the ceiling rafters – however you want to think about it if you’re up in the attic –
GARY: Yes, yes.
LESLIE: – you want to make sure that those bays are filled to the top of the joist and then what you can do is roll out another layer of the fiberglass, perpendicular to those joists; just to give you an extra oomph of insulation.
GARY: OK. Well that sounds great. I appreciate that.
TOM: Well, you’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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