I get where you’re coming from, but I’ve gotta say, blown-in insulation saved my sanity when I tackled the attic last year. Yeah, it was a dusty mess at first, but I rented one of those big vacuums and just went to town.
Maybe I just got lucky, but it was way less time on my knees wrestling batts around beams and pipes. Still ended up itchy, though—guess that’s just part of the deal with these old places.“Blown-in might sound quick, but unless your space is spotless to start with, it’s just asking for trouble.”
- Been there—old house, weird angles, and way too many cobwebs.
- Blown-in worked for me too, even though I was skeptical at first.
- I actually found it easier to fill all the odd gaps around the chimney and funky rafters than trying to cut batts to fit.
- Yeah, the dust is no joke... I wore goggles and still looked like I'd been mining coal.
- Itchiness seems like a rite of passage with these projects, honestly.
- All told, took me a weekend for the attic, which felt pretty reasonable considering how awkward the space is.
Man, the dust is wild, right? I thought I was being smart with a mask and still ended up sneezing black for a day. I’m just starting to look at insulating the crawlspace under my place and honestly, the attic sounds like it might’ve been easier. Did you find blown-in worked okay around wiring and pipes too, or did you have to do some patchwork after? I keep hearing mixed things about how well it fills those weird little spots.
Did you find blown-in worked okay around wiring and pipes too, or did you have to do some patchwork after?
Blown-in’s a mixed bag, honestly. I’ve done a few places where it hugged the wires and pipes pretty well, but there were always a couple weird gaps I had to go back and hit with batt scraps or spray foam. The dust is no joke either—last time I did an attic, I looked like a chimney sweep by the end. Crawlspace is even trickier for coverage, especially if you’ve got a lot of plumbing runs. It’s doable, just takes more crawling around than I’d like.
Funny you mention the dust—I swear I found insulation fluff in my hair days later. I’ve noticed blown-in can be a bit unpredictable, especially around all those little nooks where pipes and wires snake through. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth the extra effort compared to just fitting batts in tricky spots. Have you ever tried using those mesh nettings to help keep it in place? I’ve seen folks do that for a cleaner finish, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the hassle or just adds another step.