Hey all,

I just bought a 47 year old home. the attic is underinsulated. the question is:

1)do i remove the existing insulation? it is matted and very dirty. It seems to be 3-4 inches thick. It does have the Vapor barrier installed down to the warm side of the house but I've noticed that there seems to be some deteriorated paper covering facing upward toward the roof in some other areas. in general the insulation seems to be in fair to poor shape, the paper is crumbly and matted, dirty and thin with quite a bit of old junk (broken christmas lights, and stuff on top of it)
I don't want to be too anal here but I'd like to just remove it all and shopvac the whole space out, then reinsulate with new vapor retardant
fiberglass.
if I do clean it out (wearing hospital mask, goggles, longsleeves etc and dispose in trashbags) the only insulation I see at home depot with a high R value is like R-19. Do I lay it down between the joists (which are about 7" high and 14.5" wide) then lay another unvapor backed layer at 90 degrees over it to achieve a higher R value? the only issue with this is I will not be able to lay plywood over the top for storage because it will compress the insulation and reduce it's effectiveness (from what I've read). I had an idea of leaving a 10x10' area with just the 1 layer of insulation so I can put down a few pieces of plywood over the top for some attic storage.

any thoughts or suggestions are much appreciated.

Thanks

 

I posted this a little while ago, but your situation isn't the same. I would, like you, pull out all the old stuff, not wearing a sissy hospital mask, but a good respirator, and vacuuming it all out. Have you researched Owens Corning Miraflex insulation? It is a white fiber insulation encapsulated in an aereated pink cover. It lofts to about 9 inches. Best of all, it don't itch.
Check it out as far as cost goes, and see if it will work. For maximum insulation, you could criss cross this on top, leaving your 10x10 area with only one layer. Another advantage the vapor barrier is built in, and it breathes as well.

 

thanks Chandler, I just finished it friday, I ended up doing what you said but used two layers of R19 criss-crossed (bottom layer was Kraft, top was plain batts), it worked out pretty well, and I used/went through 4 resirators (the kind you get at home depot that are rated for insulation etc)-not the sissy hospital mask LOL,

thanks for the input.