I Know What a Knee Wall Is Now and I’m Not Afraid to Use It

Love note left by my husband on the kitchen table this week:

“For the insulation guy we need a separate quote for each floor of the house
Upstairs
* Insulate the attic and side walls
* Install an attic hatch
* Fix and install attic ventilation as required

Main Floor
* Can any insulation be added to the walls on this floor?
* He will probably need to drill a hole in an outside wall to evaluate this. If he does please put the hole in an inconspicuous place (i.e. in the hall closet or in side one of the kitchen cabinets

Basement: There is no insulation from the furnace area, through the laundry room and around Hayden’s room.  Depending on the labour costs we might do this ourselves but you know how good we are at doing these sorts of projects.  Therefore please ask him for a quote and what kind of insulation he recommends for this
* As part of the quote we will need to frame in the parts that are not framed now so please ask him to include this in his quote
* Also as per the EcoEnergy Audit a big loss of heat comes from the headers – please ask him about this and ensure that they will be including this in their work

Wow, that’s the longest thing my husband has written to me in years! Doug wasn’t able to get the time off work to walk through with the insulators himself – as he did with the home auditor.

And to think, without his direction, I am was just going to tell the insulators:  “It’s cold in here… knock yourself out.”

Well, after 3 hours with 3 contractors, I’ve learned…

• You only “blow” insulation in when you’re doing an attic; otherwise you’re “spraying” or ‘battening”
• You cannot insulate a double-brick home without reconstruction of the walls, as there isn’t enough space between outside and inside worlds
• We have knee walls that, strangely, rise up past my shoulder
• We have enough room behind those knee walls to house a full children’s nursery or store large pieces of furniture, bikes, etc.

Stay tuned for a breakdown of the 3 contractors’ quotes as to insulating the 3 levels of our old, drafty house.