I’m on Long Island N.Y. I do Hvac work but have gotten into home performance. Bpi building analyst and registered home energy auditor. Love what you guys do, do you have any outfits in this area? Frankielgallina@gmail.com
Wow! You have been extremely helpful. I love your channel! As a new homeowner, I've learned enough from your channel to be able to call contractors in my area, actually know what I'm talking about and ask questions to make sure they will take care of us. So far no company has been as thorough as you! The last company I called said that the attic did not need to be air sealed and they don't do it! Come to Pittsburgh, Pa I could really use your help!
Thank you for these tips. Air sealing these penetrations need to be building code for ALL new/remodeled homes NATIONWIDE! FYI - some newer building codes call it "fire stop" for these air penetrations, but if your home is older than 5-8 years old, I would guess that you don't have that protection. Also, glad you pointed out the styrofoam baffles; cardboard baffles should be illegal! Cardboard is a spider, bug and mice breeder.
Wish you were in Utah. Every contractor I talk to about doing something like this looks at me like I’m completely crazy because we have blown I cellulose that is waist deep. There is no baffles to keep it from the edge, nothing is air sealed. Clearly what they did is not working because it is ridiculously hot in our upstairs and no way the HVAC ducts running through the hot attic is efficient.
If I was working in hot attics I'd be beardless and short hair for sure. I've had the same length hair as you in an attempt to see if I could look like a rock star and have the strength of Sampson. Also had a goatee. I was working at a dealership in Sacramento, and couldn't take the heat anymore. My stylist refused to cut off my hair, so I had to got to a Fantastic Sams type place. I went to see my Mom one day. The second she laid eyes on me, she fainted. I put tape over my uniform at work and nobody knew who I was! The owner just about fainted too! Was pretty fun.
You provide a great service to DIY homeowners. I'm currently renovating a 75 yr old cypress log cabin. It has cypress beams supporting the ceiling of 1x6 tongue and groove cypress planks. These cypress planks are the attic floor, so the attic floor is basically a flat surface with a few wires and light fixtures cut into the planks. There are no rafters or soffits, just some gable vents. The attic floor/room ceiling is very leaky, as I can see light penetrations in a few spots. How would you recommend air sealing this attic space, should I cover the floor with some plywood or insulating foam board to air seal it before blowing in new insulation? Thanks for any suggestions...
I did a consultation with a lady in Louisiana that had something similar where she could see the light come through the attic from the living space. In her instance I recommended that she use caulk to seal on the attic side. Spray foam in her case would have squeezed through the crack and be seen on the living side which would have been ugly. See if that could work in your case to air seal those gaps, it will be tedious but should be effective. Thanks for watching and I hope that helps.
Hey T. Wood! We actually have a location that covers Greenville, SC! If you're interested, you can schedule a free assessment with them here: crawlspaceninja.com/south-carolina/greenville-sc/
Great video. I am having our insulation removed this spring. The electrical wiring in our 10 year old home in York County SC was so bad most of it has been replaced. And I have already air sealed around all electrical/cable/pumbing penetrations. One question I have is why didn't you use fire block foam around the electrical devices? Wish you well. Great work.
This is exactly what I'm in the process of doing. But first I have to remove and clean my soffit which has filled up with leaves and fiberglass dragged into the space by squirrels.
Approx cost/square foot to suck out insulation put in baffles and can light covers. Reinsulate You are not in our area. Thanks for your help. I’m in the triad area NC if you may know of contractors fits your detailed work
@crawl Space Ninja . We have a very old house (1.5 storey) . We have knee walls all on the second storey and no access to the space above the rooms where the roof meets. Do you have any videos on how to creat an access door to knee walls and to the area I am describing? Also what would be the best thing to do for this space, I’m assuming it is very small as the ceilings in the room are right against the roof if that makes sense? It gets extremely hot upstairs in the summer and very cold in the winter (Canada) . We also have no return vents in the upper part of our home which doesn’t help.
Misscd7777 - Michael has actually produced 2 videos on this very subject: ruclips.net/video/uytb3wYmftU/видео.html & ruclips.net/video/pMZ5JeyS6pA/видео.html We appreciate you watching and hope you have a happy & blessed weekend.
Mwngw, Crawl Space Ninja is expanding all the time. If you know of someone wanting to open up a franchise in your area, make sure to send them to franchise.crawlspaceninja.com We appreciate you watching and hope you have a happy & blessed day!
There are so many cape cod style house's here in the Central Valley area of California, (mine included) nobody knows how to cool the upstairs down. Big initial marketing point to start with around here. No shortage of crooked contractors and builders either
Great video. How do you seal around flex ducts that penetrate through the insulation layer of the attic floor? I have found warmed air escapes up through the blown-in around the flex duct like a chimney. Cold air from the attic drops through the insulation and contacts the interior drywall where it is warmed and rises again into the attic. It rises following the path of least resistance, which is the natural gap between the flex duct and the blowin in insulation.
Hey Michael, i'm building an addition and used trusses. Our best option for the HVAC is a 2 ton exterior unit, but it's a little bigger than we need, but would be simplest for install and noise. To find more square feet needed for HVAC- I'm thinking of sealing up the center portion of the trusses and running a vent there (ac/heat). So the center portion would be conditioned, with the rest of attic blown insulation. Would this work with creating problems? Thanks for your time and thoughts.
Hey guys, what is the best way to insulate a electrical box in the roof? (like a regular basic interior box to mount a regular chandler or light). Would you recommend plastic and acoustic sealant OR spray foam the edges?
Hey I'll be re watching all your videos soon but my research brought me back to the attic for now, what foam would you use to seal those electrical wires? Window and door foam?
One problem that I have is probably 60 percent of my attic has boards nailed down. Is it worth it to remove the boards, air seal everything and then add loose fill insulation? It has minimal loose insulation under the boards and I am sure air sealing was never done it.
Hi Ninja Mike, Great videos, very helpful . In step 2, Air seal, 8:02 in this video,...Do we need to air seal every single joist or just the top plates and drywall joints? (already sealed wire and plumbing holes with fire block foam) TY Sir.
Did you happen to get an answer, bc I have that same question. Seal every joist or just drywall joints, top plates, wires, plumbing holes? I am just unsure about every single joist.
Hi Michael! Awesome and very informative channel. My husband and I are thinking about putting recessed lighting in our living room. Our attic looks like the ones pictured in your video. Is there a risk of the lights getting too hot to cause fire to the insulation?
Yes, you do not want to risk an electrical fire. We recommend can light covers. You can learn more about insulating around your lights in this video: ruclips.net/video/2mvqtm1CU_E/видео.html
Spray foam insulation delivers big energy savings for homeowners, but several pest control companies say it also prevents them from conducting proper termite inspections and identifying moisture leaks. I guess it would depend on the company or contractor.
So I renovated my house 2 years ago so the attic insulation is only 2 years old. However after watching your video I have realized I missed a step. If I remove all this new insulation to air seal, can it be reused or not? Trying to keep costs down since it’s newer.
Every company charges for their services differently. We charge a price per square foot. Thanks for watching and we hope you have a happy & blessed weekend.
So in the attic , with the ceiling below exposed. do you seal all the drywall seams as well? My older home used what appears to be 2x3 pieces of drywall . I guess made for easier handling, but looking at it from the right angle, you can see all the seams on the finished side Many seams .And do you do the whole perimeter of the outer top plates? Thanks
I have seen similar sections in homes here and we did seal the joints of the drywall as well just to make sure everything wal sealed for the homeowner as well as the outer top plates. Great question, thanks for watching.
I'm sorry, we do not know of anyone in that area. We recommend doing some searches on Google and making sure you read the reviews. Here is a video we did on picking a good contractor: ruclips.net/video/pBSOBByvgtY/видео.html
Vent ducts should never be terminated in the attic , especially dryer vents. Consider a no duct heat pump dryer to save energy (3 times more efficient and doesn't exhaust your conditioned air while sucking in unconditioned air) and eliminate the dryer duct. For the remaining ducts, you can get a fan that combines multiple ducts into a single roof penetrating exhaust vent.
Thank you Michael. I have a home in Vero Beach, FL that I recently purchased. I need a proper evaluation and recommendations. How do I go about finding a qualified and honest contractor there? Thanks. BTW, it's a 1973 1100 sq. ft. rectangular concrete block ranch with a crawl space attic.
Deadria, we currently do not have an office in Texas, but we are expanding all of the time. You can find all of our service areas on our website: crawlspaceninja.com/service-area/ Thanks for watching and have a happy and blessed day.
All those conduit air gaps! That's what happens when your contractor decides that it's too much hassle to carry a set of properly sized hole saws and just uses the biggest one all the time because "it fits everything." And it's not hard to carry a little can of spray foam with you to finish the job (or a tube of silicon for exterior openings).
Is your attic ready for summer?!
Crawl Space Ninja I have a house built two years ago and we used spray in open cell in the attic and walls what is your opinion on that
Crawl Space Ninja what’s your opinion about foam board insulation on the roof deck
NO :-(
I’m on Long Island N.Y. I do Hvac work but have gotten into home performance. Bpi building analyst and registered home energy auditor. Love what you guys do, do you have any outfits in this area? Frankielgallina@gmail.com
at this point we do not have anyone in that area.
the small fast growing city I live would be ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for this business!
Wow! You have been extremely helpful. I love your channel! As a new homeowner, I've learned enough from your channel to be able to call contractors in my area, actually know what I'm talking about and ask questions to make sure they will take care of us. So far no company has been as thorough as you! The last company I called said that the attic did not need to be air sealed and they don't do it! Come to Pittsburgh, Pa I could really use your help!
Thank you so much!
Thank you for these tips. Air sealing these penetrations need to be building code for ALL new/remodeled homes NATIONWIDE! FYI - some newer building codes call it "fire stop" for these air penetrations, but if your home is older than 5-8 years old, I would guess that you don't have that protection. Also, glad you pointed out the styrofoam baffles; cardboard baffles should be illegal! Cardboard is a spider, bug and mice breeder.
Thanks for the comment!
Wish you were in Utah. Every contractor I talk to about doing something like this looks at me like I’m completely crazy because we have blown I cellulose that is waist deep. There is no baffles to keep it from the edge, nothing is air sealed. Clearly what they did is not working because it is ridiculously hot in our upstairs and no way the HVAC ducts running through the hot attic is efficient.
Thank you and sorry you cannot find someone in your area. It made a huge difference in my house and my mother-in-laws and she's not easy to please :)
Mike, thanks for another terrific and informative video. I wish you were close to serve my area!
There's a lot of great information and examples here, thanks.
If I was working in hot attics I'd be beardless and short hair for sure. I've had the same length hair as you in an attempt to see if I could look like a rock star and have the strength of Sampson. Also had a goatee. I was working at a dealership in Sacramento, and couldn't take the heat anymore. My stylist refused to cut off my hair, so I had to got to a Fantastic Sams type place. I went to see my Mom one day. The second she laid eyes on me, she fainted. I put tape over my uniform at work and nobody knew who I was! The owner just about fainted too! Was pretty fun.
Thanks I’ll consider it- thanks you for the quick response .
No problem!
I appreciate your video, truly found it informative and easy to stay tuned. Plus, you sound like the comedian Dusty Slay, so an added bonus!
You provide a great service to DIY homeowners. I'm currently renovating a 75 yr old cypress log cabin. It has cypress beams supporting the ceiling of 1x6 tongue and groove cypress planks. These cypress planks are the attic floor, so the attic floor is basically a flat surface with a few wires and light fixtures cut into the planks. There are no rafters or soffits, just some gable vents. The attic floor/room ceiling is very leaky, as I can see light penetrations in a few spots. How would you recommend air sealing this attic space, should I cover the floor with some plywood or insulating foam board to air seal it before blowing in new insulation? Thanks for any suggestions...
I did a consultation with a lady in Louisiana that had something similar where she could see the light come through the attic from the living space. In her instance I recommended that she use caulk to seal on the attic side. Spray foam in her case would have squeezed through the crack and be seen on the living side which would have been ugly. See if that could work in your case to air seal those gaps, it will be tedious but should be effective. Thanks for watching and I hope that helps.
Greenville,South Carolina needs you !
Hey T. Wood! We actually have a location that covers Greenville, SC! If you're interested, you can schedule a free assessment with them here: crawlspaceninja.com/south-carolina/greenville-sc/
Great video. I am having our insulation removed this spring. The electrical wiring in our 10 year old home in York County SC was so bad most of it has been replaced. And I have already air sealed around all electrical/cable/pumbing penetrations. One question I have is why didn't you use fire block foam around the electrical devices? Wish you well. Great work.
This is exactly what I'm in the process of doing. But first I have to remove and clean my soffit which has filled up with leaves and fiberglass dragged into the space by squirrels.
Good Luck!
Great video and super information
Approx cost/square foot to suck out insulation put in baffles and can light covers. Reinsulate You are not in our area. Thanks for your help. I’m in the triad area NC if you may know of contractors fits your detailed work
Amazing video just gained a sub keep it up from a fellow attic ninja
@crawl Space Ninja . We have a very old house (1.5 storey) . We have knee walls all on the second storey and no access to the space above the rooms where the roof meets. Do you have any videos on how to creat an access door to knee walls and to the area I am describing? Also what would be the best thing to do for this space, I’m assuming it is very small as the ceilings in the room are right against the roof if that makes sense? It gets extremely hot upstairs in the summer and very cold in the winter (Canada) . We also have no return vents in the upper part of our home which doesn’t help.
Misscd7777 - Michael has actually produced 2 videos on this very subject: ruclips.net/video/uytb3wYmftU/видео.html & ruclips.net/video/pMZ5JeyS6pA/видео.html We appreciate you watching and hope you have a happy & blessed weekend.
Sure wish you guys were in the Pacific Northwest. We desperately need dependable, honest contractors.
Mwngw, Crawl Space Ninja is expanding all the time. If you know of someone wanting to open up a franchise in your area, make sure to send them to franchise.crawlspaceninja.com We appreciate you watching and hope you have a happy & blessed day!
God bless you sir!
Thanks for watching, Sam!
Are these pretty much the same steps for a one story hip roof. Any differences?
There are so many cape cod style house's here in the Central Valley area of California, (mine included) nobody knows how to cool the upstairs down. Big initial marketing point to start with around here. No shortage of crooked contractors and builders either
As you grow the branches, will the branches keep the sames quality of work described?
Absolutely!
Great video. How do you seal around flex ducts that penetrate through the insulation layer of the attic floor? I have found warmed air escapes up through the blown-in around the flex duct like a chimney. Cold air from the attic drops through the insulation and contacts the interior drywall where it is warmed and rises again into the attic. It rises following the path of least resistance, which is the natural gap between the flex duct and the blowin in insulation.
For in-depth information. Please fill out this Ask a Ninja form - crawlspaceninja.com/ask-a-ninja/
Hey Michael, i'm building an addition and used trusses. Our best option for the HVAC is a 2 ton exterior unit, but it's a little bigger than we need, but would be simplest for install and noise. To find more square feet needed for HVAC- I'm thinking of sealing up the center portion of the trusses and running a vent there (ac/heat). So the center portion would be conditioned, with the rest of attic blown insulation. Would this work with creating problems? Thanks for your time and thoughts.
Hey guys, what is the best way to insulate a electrical box in the roof? (like a regular basic interior box to mount a regular chandler or light). Would you recommend plastic and acoustic sealant OR spray foam the edges?
Hey I'll be re watching all your videos soon but my research brought me back to the attic for now, what foam would you use to seal those electrical wires? Window and door foam?
Door and window is good, also firestop foam. Check with code to see if they require a firestop type foam.
One problem that I have is probably 60 percent of my attic has boards nailed down. Is it worth it to remove the boards, air seal everything and then add loose fill insulation? It has minimal loose insulation under the boards and I am sure air sealing was never done it.
Hi Ninja Mike, Great videos, very helpful . In step 2, Air seal, 8:02 in this video,...Do we need to air seal every single joist or just the top plates and drywall joints? (already sealed wire and plumbing holes with fire block foam) TY Sir.
Did you happen to get an answer, bc I have that same question. Seal every joist or just drywall joints, top plates, wires, plumbing holes? I am just unsure about every single joist.
Hi Michael!
Awesome and very informative channel. My husband and I are thinking about putting recessed lighting in our living room. Our attic looks like the ones pictured in your video. Is there a risk of the lights getting too hot to cause fire to the insulation?
Yes, you do not want to risk an electrical fire. We recommend can light covers. You can learn more about insulating around your lights in this video: ruclips.net/video/2mvqtm1CU_E/видео.html
your amazing
Thank you so much Jim.
I was told pest control wont deal with a house with foam in the attic would this count? 8:29
Spray foam insulation delivers big energy savings for homeowners, but several pest control companies say it also prevents them from conducting proper termite inspections and identifying moisture leaks. I guess it would depend on the company or contractor.
So I renovated my house 2 years ago so the attic insulation is only 2 years old. However after watching your video I have realized I missed a step. If I remove all this new insulation to air seal, can it be reused or not? Trying to keep costs down since it’s newer.
What type is it?
If you're looking for some expert advice. Feel free to submit a Ask a Ninja Form. We will do our best to assist - crawlspaceninja.com/ask-a-ninja/
How do you charge for attic and crawl space by the job or is there a price for square feet
Every company charges for their services differently. We charge a price per square foot. Thanks for watching and we hope you have a happy & blessed weekend.
So in the attic , with the ceiling below exposed. do you seal all the drywall seams as well? My older home used what appears to be 2x3 pieces of drywall . I guess made for easier handling, but looking at it from the right angle, you can see all the seams on the finished side Many seams .And do you do the whole perimeter of the outer top plates? Thanks
I have seen similar sections in homes here and we did seal the joints of the drywall as well just to make sure everything wal sealed for the homeowner as well as the outer top plates. Great question, thanks for watching.
Once I seal the drywall seams and top plates, do I need to seal at every joist?
Any recommendations for a contractor in las vegas nv. Area.
I'm sorry, we do not know of anyone in that area. We recommend doing some searches on Google and making sure you read the reviews. Here is a video we did on picking a good contractor: ruclips.net/video/pBSOBByvgtY/видео.html
Vent ducts should never be terminated in the attic , especially dryer vents. Consider a no duct heat pump dryer to save energy (3 times more efficient and doesn't exhaust your conditioned air while sucking in unconditioned air) and eliminate the dryer duct. For the remaining ducts, you can get a fan that combines multiple ducts into a single roof penetrating exhaust vent.
I have never heard of those dryers sound intriguing.
Would poorly installed baffles cause a room to be uncomfortable? Cold in the winter, hot in the summer?
It can have an adverse effect.
Thank you Michael. I have a home in Vero Beach, FL that I recently purchased. I need a proper evaluation and recommendations. How do I go about finding a qualified and honest contractor there? Thanks. BTW, it's a 1973 1100 sq. ft. rectangular concrete block ranch with a crawl space attic.
Hi Ricky, check out this video we did on how to choose a good contractor ruclips.net/video/pBSOBByvgtY/видео.html
Any in Texas
Deadria, we currently do not have an office in Texas, but we are expanding all of the time. You can find all of our service areas on our website: crawlspaceninja.com/service-area/ Thanks for watching and have a happy and blessed day.
Congrats. Are you selling shares
Not yet! haha
Hello, how are you doing now in Nov 2024???
Doing great! Thanks for the support!
All those conduit air gaps! That's what happens when your contractor decides that it's too much hassle to carry a set of properly sized hole saws and just uses the biggest one all the time because "it fits everything." And it's not hard to carry a little can of spray foam with you to finish the job (or a tube of silicon for exterior openings).
I would not use spray foam because traditional insulations are good enough and easy to maintenance.
Do you need a vapor barrier
Yes! To properly shield from humidity, moisture and outside elements,
Any chance of doing business in Cincinnati?
Live in Portage Indiana 46368 - do you have any references in that area.
Sadly we do not... But if you are a DIYer you can visit our store...diy.crawlspaceninja.com
All these great companies that are far away from me
Keep an eye on our service area, we're expanding quickly!