Everybody says that insulation is a terrible job and that the people who put it in professionally buy insulation in such quantities that their price for the insulation and installation is less than what the average guy would have to pay for the insulation. Maybe this was true a long time ago, but the advent of Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. (and their free delivery - also a major problem for a D-I-Y housebuilder) is such that one can buy insulation quite cheap. A comparison of a quote from the professionals and and the material cost at Lowe's showed that one could be making $20/hour putting it in. Figure FICA and income taxes and one would have to be making $30/hour to pay someone $20/hour. That's $60,000 per year and there is not much of that here in Washington County.
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| On the left, the ceiling of the living room has 10 inches of R30 kraft-faced insulation and the walls were filled with 6", R19 insulation and covered with plastic. The photo on the right was taken from the guest bedroom looking through the master closet to the master bedroom. | |
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| Even though the outsdide of the basement was covered with 2" of rigid foam insulation (meeting code), stud walls were put in the basement and filled with 4", R13 insulation and covered with plastic. Note the main plumbing drain running along the east wall on the left. On the right is the laundry room on the west wall. | |
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