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TheSMJ
join:2009-08-19
Farmington, MI

TheSMJ

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New house renovation thread

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Family Room wall w/ paneling removed
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100% cotton insulation?
Bought m first house this past Wednesday. This house was built in 1959, so it has a lot of interesting features like twin-lead outlets connecting to an old antenna in the attic, and 4-prong telephone outlets in every room. Cosmetically this house is still in the 60s, so I have quite a bit I want to do before I move in two weeks from now.

The first thing on my list is to install CAT6 in all the rooms. I decided to start with the family room because:

1. Dark wood paneling on all the walls needs to go.
2. Ceiling is covered in ugly green acoustic tile. Tested it for asbestos and it was clear, so it's coming down.
3. By gaining access to the studs and joists in the family room, I can use this room to direct the CAT6 cables to all other rooms of the house.

So, today my dad and I started by removing some of the green ceiling tile, and pulled all the paneling off a wall. Behind the paneling we found cotton insulation (1 inch thick!). I can't say I've ever heard of this type of insulation before, and neither has my dad. At this point, I plan to pull it all out and replace it with fiberglass batts.

Still to do (in no particular order):

*Finish CAT6 install.
*Patch cracks in drywall caused by the foundation settling.
*Remove/drywall over laundry chute to the garage.
*Paint all rooms.
*Remove the wallpaper in every rooms that has it.
*Replace all 2-prong AC outlets with 3-prong.*
*Replace all 2-prong outlets in bathrooms with 3-prong GFI outlets.
*Decide what to do with the water heater (already have a thread for that here: »Flush an old hot water heater?)
*Fix the pocket doors. This house has 3, and each one has something wrong with it.
*Install carpet in the family room and replace the carpet in the living room and dining room.

I'll post pics along with a status update as I move forward.

* Before half this forum jumps down my throat: The original wiring does in fact have live ground wires going to every electrical box. I just need to install self grounded outlets and I'm good to go.

DataDoc
My avatar looks like me, if I was 2D.
Premium Member
join:2000-05-14
Hedgesville, WV
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DataDoc

Premium Member

" Insulation made from cotton has a general R-value of 3-4 per inch compared to fiberglass insulation batts with R-values ranging from 5 to 7 per inch. "

A review by a consumer is at:
»www2.buildinggreen.com/b ··· sulation

Juggernaut
Irreverent or irrelevant?
Premium Member
join:2006-09-05
Kelowna, BC

Juggernaut

Premium Member

Yea, he has a lot of make-up remover for the wife it seems.

Batts, and vapour barrier are the way to go. It's cheap compared to heating loss over a year.
TheSMJ
join:2009-08-19
Farmington, MI

TheSMJ

Member

said by Juggernaut:

Yea, he has a lot of make-up remover for the wife it seems.

Batts, and vapour barrier are the way to go. It's cheap compared to heating loss over a year.

Think I should use unfaced batts and a separate plastic vapor barrier, or go with faced batts?

In terms of R rating, I imagine I should use R-13, since these are 2x4s?

Juggernaut
Irreverent or irrelevant?
Premium Member
join:2006-09-05
Kelowna, BC

Juggernaut

Premium Member

Yes. Batts, and separate barrier is best for a seal. 2x4's should be R-15 value, but can vary from 11-15.

Tomek
Premium Member
join:2002-01-30
Valley Stream, NY

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You should also look into Roxul insulation, we are putting that in our house and so far I love that stuff. Not that more expensive and you can get it at home depot

Draiman
Let me see those devil horns in the sky
join:2012-06-01
Kill Devil Hills, NC

Draiman

Member

said by Tomek:

You should also look into Roxul insulation, we are putting that in our house and so far I love that stuff. Not that more expensive and you can get it at home depot

For batts it's not much more but over rolls it's super expensive. Fiberglass rolls would be the cheapest way to go. Depending on how much you need it might even been worth doing 1" of closed cell foam then fiberglass.
TheSMJ
join:2009-08-19
Farmington, MI

TheSMJ

Member

I ended up getting faced fiberglass batts. That's what HD had in stock, and I had a 10% off coupon + a bunch of gift cards with them, so...
cjski
The Wheel Weaves As The Wheel Will
Premium Member
join:2001-01-04
Sun City, CA

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said by TheSMJ:

I'll post pics along with a status update as I move forward.

Don't forget the 'before' pics too.