View Full Version : Insulating vaulted ceiling in a modular home
bychgoddess
Aug 19, 2009, 06:36 PM
I have a modular home with vaulted ceilings throughout most of the house. The blown-in insulation that was put in place while building the home, settled to the outside edges of the house when it was moved 1,000 miles to my homesite. I was considering more blown-in insulation, but, when I inquired about that at a local insulation co. they said they couldn't do it, "sorry", but wouldn't even come look. Shouldn't this be possible? Could you possibly go through the roof cap, and blow to either side? The marriage wall is also very hot in summer & cold as H**L in winter. The heat is extreme-when you open the kitchen cabinets on that wall, the heat, (or cold), just slams you in your face. Been fighting 300-500 dollar power bills for 10 years. Summer thermostat is set to 78 degrees, winter to 68 degrees with fire place going full blast after work hours. House is 1728 sq feet.
Please Help!
Bychgoddess :eek:
21boat
Aug 19, 2009, 07:28 PM
moved 1,000 miles to my homesite Where do you live for a home to travel that far..
The blown-in insulation that was put in place while building the home, settled to the outside edges of the house when it was moved 1,000 Been fighting 300-500 dollar power bills for 10 years. Hears my take on this,some basic thought. Hopefully the home was specked for your Geo for (R) value.
When the soffits were clogged your first year of cooling and heating caused way too much moisture to get into the blown insul. So as time went on it would got worse and worse. The facts on that is if insulation gets/has 5% of moisture in it it losses 95% of its insulation properties. So the problem here may not be more insul which if I'm right which I think I am then nothing here will really change adding more insul and only compound the problem I would pop a panel and check for a vapor barrier and loose fill above that. If no vapor barrier then that would cause a double wammy...
bychgoddess
Aug 20, 2009, 02:50 PM
Double whammy, meaning what exactly? Does this mean I am going to have to rip out either my whole ceiling, or roof? In what order should the vapor barrier & insulation be in?
Going up from the sheetrock, I should see.. :(
21boat
Aug 20, 2009, 05:32 PM
All vapor barriers needs to be towards the warm side of the structure. This barrier could be kraft paper or 6 mil poly in insulation above that has no vapor barrier.
If not then moisture will get into the insulation.
The fist whammy was the soffits being clogged up and not venting air above the insul. As soon as that was happening the insul was getting a lot of moisture in it, can happen quick. That in itself is enough to cause insul to not only loose its insul properties it can also cause Mold..
If the ceiling above does not have a vapor barrier on the warm side and the insul was blown in ( No vapor barrier ) then the moisture from inside the rooms were adding more moisture in the ceiling . This is the double Whammy
You need to pick a spot to get into the that roof area. I would pick a closet ceiling and cut through there to check for vapor barrier and insul thickness and dampness in the ceiling. This is the order..
a
What Geo are you?
http://www.southface.org/web/resources&services/publications/factsheets/25_insulateceilings_4pdf.pdf
Drywall
Vapor barrier
Insulation
Air space to vent above the insulation.
Roof plywood.
So as bad as it is there pop up through a closet and get back.. Measure insul thickness and check the Geo chart I gave you.