Bye Larry, thanks for the cool attic.
Larry is our new friend who may have changed our lives in summer forever. His brightly colored trailer pulled into our drive this week looking like the circus had arrived. A ladder emerged extending 25 feet up to the balcony, and a guy carried a thick hose up the ladder, over the railing, through the bedroom, into the closet and up into the attic. Larry and team had come to install spray foam insulation in our fifteen year old house. Summer heat is coming. Probably next week, Maybe tomorrow. We’re bracing for five months of daily temperatures in the high 90’s. Back in February when so many folks in Florida were hopping like wallabies after seeing their January electric bills, we were cool. Our bill was low. I can get by wearing layers and layers to save energy. But, the summer heat in our cupola bedroom is beastly, and one can only peel off so much. Several visiting hurricanes had bullied the pink fiberglass batt insulation into rumpled heaps all over the attic. We hired Larry to retrofit our house with six inches of foam under the roof.
Of course we wanted to take advantage of rebates, tax credits and any other incentive available so our first step was to ask FPL, our utility provider, to inspect to see if we qualified for the utility company rebate. The maximum rebate is $300 and we qualified due to the numerous areas where insulation had fallen and left bare areas in the attic. He wrote a voucher which we were to present to the installer upon completion as part of the payment.
One issue to understand is whether to get open cell or closed sell insulation. For interior use, open cell is the answer. It allows moisture to escape and for the house to breathe. Closed cell is for use externally and forms a hard crust. Open cell, which costs less, retains a softer character.
Because the master bedroom is literally built into the roof of our Old Florida style house, we technically have two attics - - one over the master and one that goes around the master. For Larry and his men, it was a contortionist work-out to crawl amidst the trusses, no taller than 60” at the max, gathering the old batt and preparing to seal the vented attic. (Spray foam requires an unvented attic.) They also built a wall to close off those parts of the eves extending over the exterior porches. Finally, Larry, dressed in a sheer white fiber hazmat suit crouching, stretching and contorting, sprayed and sprayed and sprayed.
The entire process took two and a half days. The workmen were very respectful of our home, spreading plastic for their walking paths, and cleaning up each day before they left. A couple of mishaps occurred. One venetian blind was broken and two recessed lights popped out of the ceiling below. The cat is wearing some tiny dots of overspray, but he’s nosey and brought that on himself. We left the attic access open for two days to allow VOCs to escape. Two days was not enough, but we had to close it off again to get back to normal living.With the rebate from FPL, cash discount and federal tax credit (30% of cost up to $1500) we reduced the bill by about $2100. If you are considering retrofitting with spray foam here are the steps we took:
1. Find out your utility company offers a rebate. It’s probably on their website. If you can’t find it, call or email customer service.
2. If they do, make an appointment for an inspection to see if you qualify.
3. Obtain several estimates. Ask about the VOCs in the product they supply.
4. Prepare to move your personal items out of the way.
5. Wait cheerfully for summer, knowing this one will be better.
