Adding insulation to your home's attic

Last fall I decided to add some blown-in fiberglass insulation to our attic. When the house was built, the builder put in the minimum required by code, but I wanted to have a little extra, for those chilly Minnesota winters. A local home improvement store had a great Sale on loose insulation, and I would be able to take a tax credit for 30% of the cost, so I decided to do it myself instead of hiring the job out to a Pro.

I purchased 20 bags of insulation, which included a free blower rental for 8 hours. That sounded like plenty of time for me to get everything done, even with the 40 minutes it takes me each way to pick up and return the blower. I had "hired" a friend to run the blower outside the house while I was up in the attic, maneuvering the hose around. A set of walkie-talkies comes in handy for this kind of project, in case you need to tell the person loading the blower to shut off the machine. So, she'd break up the bales, feed them into the machine and make sure it didn't clog, while I "made it snow" in our attic. Protective clothing and goggles/facemasks are also an absolute must, by the way.

After about 5 hours, all of the material was blown in, and I had added at least 6 inches to our attic insulation. The whole project was very affordable, not too complicated and definitely a great investment.

Right now is the time when a lot of insulation products are on Sale - I encourage you to take a peek up into your attic. Make sure you have enough insulation, that there aren't any spots where it has settled or gotten wet. And the tax break still applies to a lot of products - check with your store for eligibility. Finally, pick a cool day for the project and start as early as possible; it gets plenty warm under the roof in a hurry.