Insulation types and Costs

Types of Insulation that is found in homes and buildings varies from area to area, The amount of insulation in these homes and buildings also vary, depending on the region that the structure is in. Example: a cold climate such as Madison, WI will have a different type and amount of insulation as a home in Miami, FL, In this page we will attempt to tell you what type of insulation are in ”most” homes and the usual amounts and the containments that effect these areas. We will start with the attic area.

Spray Foam insulation

Spray foam insulation is the latest in innovation in heating and cooling, Spray foam is superior over other types of insulation simply because it can seal all the voids in a attic or crawlspace, when you seal the voids, you simply cut the air flow from a given space, this makes the area more efficient. There are many more advantages to spray foam insulation and you can find them by searching that term in google. However there are a couple disadvantages, one of them being it is very hard to remove once installed.

Attic Insulation

Attic Insulation is the type of insulation that can vary a lot, Many areas will have mostly fiberglass insulation in the attic area, However if the house was built in the last 30 years, if could have a type of insulation called cellulose, Cellulose insulation is made of mostly paper or some other type of recycled material, the recycled material is mixed with a chemical called boric acid which decreases the flammability of the product. This is often the most difficult type of insulation to remove because it is blown into a attic with a machine, the machine spreads the insulation all over the attic to make a nice even layer of thermal protection. However if you are attempting to remove this type of insulation, you must do it with a vacuum machine. These type of machines are expensive and often the removal and replacement of this type of insulation can get expensive. One other factor that determines the cost of such service is the depth of the blown insulation in the attic area. All of these factors determine the price of such services. Most companies that do this work will charge by the square foot. And a reasonable fee to do this will be between $3.00 and $4.00 per foot to remove and replace the insulation to current code. Square footage is determined by a calculation that is length X width.
Example: Your attic is 20 foot wide and 40 foot long, you would take 20x40=800, so you would have a attic that measures 800 square foot in size.

Wall Insulation

Wall insulation is normally rolled in fiberglass, meaning that the fiberglass is rolled in layers and attached to a backing that is usually made of a paper substance sprayed with boric acid for fire retardation. The thickness of this insulation is usually 5 to 6 inches when it is expanded. Most homes are built with 2x4 walls so basically this is all the insulation that will fit into this void. The only time this is different is if the home is constructed with 2x6’s then the amount of insulation you could get in the void would be greater. 2x6 constructed homes are very rare in this economic era we are in. Most builders in the last 30 years are constructing to state code, which is 2x4 constructions. The removal and replacement to wall insulation is relatively easy, however to remove and replace this insulation either the sheetrock or wall covering must be removed or the exterior siding needs to be removed. Both options are expensive. Costs for this type of work will vary so greatly I will not even put a range this should fall in.

Floor Insulation

Floor insulation is almost always rolled in fiberglass, the removal and replacement for this type of insulation has several variables and accessibility is the most important factor when trying to determine pricing for such services. The harder an area is to get to, the more a contractor is going to charge to remove and replace it. One of the factors that will also determine pricing is the amount of insulation you want to put back in the crawlspace. This is what is called a R-Factor.
I will attempt to explain some technical words that a insulation removal professional will use in his presentation of a quote.
Square Footage: square footage is the multiplication of the lengeth X width of a area.
Linliar foot: is the straight measurement from one point to another.
R-factor- is the amount of insulation in thickness, or thermal resistance, Or in regular people terms, to get a R-fator you multiply inches of insulation by about 3, so if you have six inches in insulation, you multiply 6X3 to get a R factor of about 18, this multiply number will vary a little depending on the density of the product being installed, buy using 3 as a multiple is a good start.
Good luck with your search to find a qualified contractor to do the work for you, there are good and bad contactors out there, we only can suggest that you start your search with our wildlife removal operators list

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