Home Improvement/Remodel Thread

[vike daddy]

35 minutes ago, MOSteelers56 said:

Yes, in an attic. I live in Central Missouri. It gets in the 90s pretty regularly in the summer. My AC is from the stone age and can barely keep the house under 80 degrees in the summer. It was worse before we got a new roof and they put on a vent up there, but there's no insulation in the attic. I figure that a layer of insulation might do the trick instead of spending 8k on a new AC. As for cold, the furnace is in the basement and it keeps it pretty warm. I figure insulation will help with that too, though. 

yes, it will.

insulation is the ONLY product in the building process that pays for itself over time, by reducing fuel costs. that, and the efficiency of your heating/cooling equipment. everything else in your home is a sunk cost that produces no savings over time. cabinets? flooring? furniture? patios and decks? all are worth less over time, due to depreciation.

so i'll ask you this? do you think energy (electricity and natural gas) will cost more or less than now as we advance into the future? obviously, it will cost more. so spending dollars now on insulation, which will allow you to buy less fuel for your home, is the best single investment you can make. it will also be a beneficial factor when it comes to resell the home as your intended buyer might be comparing your home to ones less insulated and computing his costs too.

so, to your specific question - how much insul should you get? answer - as much as you can afford! lol

if you get temps in the 90's in the summer, then your attic should be insulated to a minimum of an R-32 level, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with insulating it to an R-44 or 48 level. (R being how insulation effectiveness is measured, its Resistance to heat and cooling losses.

also, check into whether your state has tax incentives for making your home more energy efficient and take advantage of those. the IRS recognizes it at the federal level, and it will be a simple one page Form 5695. for your federal taxes, you will receive a credit toward your taxes owed of 30% of what you spend on the insulation costs.

if you don't typically owe any federal taxes at the end of the year (which means the 5695 credit has nothing to reduce), then we can discuss how to make that work to your advantage in another post.

 

 

[Tugboat]

11 hours ago, MOSteelers56 said:

What's a good depth for blow-in insulation?

 

Okay.  So first..."blown in" insulation, i'm not sure what is being referred to here.

 

There are a few different things that people often refer to as that, which are very different.

 

8 hours ago, MOSteelers56 said:

Yes, in an attic. I live in Central Missouri. It gets in the 90s pretty regularly in the summer. My AC is from the stone age and can barely keep the house under 80 degrees in the summer. It was worse before we got a new roof and they put on a vent up there, but there's no insulation in the attic. I figure that a layer of insulation might do the trick instead of spending 8k on a new AC. As for cold, the furnace is in the basement and it keeps it pretty warm. I figure insulation will help with that too, though. 

 

From this, i'm guessing you're talking about "Loose Fill" stuff blown into the attic.  It's the best cheap way to moderate temperatures on both ends and it's pretty standard practice in most places and has been for a long time now...but old houses, you run into problems.  When you're retrofitting.  You need to make sure of a few things. Venting.  But also...

 

1)That you've got that attic properly sealed off with a vapor barrier from the walls/ceilings.  If you don't do that, you'll get weird mold at the corners. Mold basically just grows wherever there are weird temperature differentials that aren't controlled by a barrier.  That makes moisture.  And moist makes mold.  If there's no barrier...it goes through.

But if your house currently has nothing up there, i'd want to make sure that whatever company is blowing me can at least answer some questions about that.  Or just generally explain things.  Probably doesn't even matter if your questions make sense...just see if it throws them off or whatever.

 

2)If you're talking about spray foamy ****...that's a whole different ballpark.  For one, they're both super awful in terms of offgassing.  Toxic as heck.  Just keeps gassing forever basically.  The other thing is...open cell foam has the problem above.  Closed cell foam has a different problem...where it gets super messy with vapor things and is usually done wrong.  Then five-ten years later it contracts and you've got an even more massive bigger problem.  

 

 

Trying to figure out what a "good depth" for "blown in" insulation is really down to the product and the application.  It'll have an R value for resistance to heat transfer per inch...but that's still only part of it.  Especially in an attic with presumably some sort of trusses.  Mostly beyond the realm of things people give a **** about in a typical single family detached home.  But it does, and can very much matter.  But if you start asking questions about a "depth" of insulation that'll probably give you a clue if they know what they're doing or not for whatever your area is, or just in general.

[MOSteelers56]

11 hours ago, vike daddy said:

yes, it will.

insulation is the ONLY product in the building process that pays for itself over time, by reducing fuel costs. that, and the efficiency of your heating/cooling equipment. everything else in your home is a sunk cost that produces no savings over time. cabinets? flooring? furniture? patios and decks? all are worth less over time, due to depreciation.

so i'll ask you this? do you think energy (electricity and natural gas) will cost more or less than now as we advance into the future? obviously, it will cost more. so spending dollars now on insulation, which will allow you to buy less fuel for your home, is the best single investment you can make. it will also be a beneficial factor when it comes to resell the home as your intended buyer might be comparing your home to ones less insulated and computing his costs too.

so, to your specific question - how much insul should you get? answer - as much as you can afford! lol

if you get temps in the 90's in the summer, then your attic should be insulated to a minimum of an R-32 level, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with insulating it to an R-44 or 48 level. (R being how insulation effectiveness is measured, its Resistance to heat and cooling losses.

also, check into whether your state has tax incentives for making your home more energy efficient and take advantage of those. the IRS recognizes it at the federal level, and it will be a simple one page Form 5695. for your federal taxes, you will receive a credit toward your taxes owed of 30% of what you spend on the insulation costs.

if you don't typically owe any federal taxes at the end of the year (which means the 5695 credit has nothing to reduce), then we can discuss how to make that work to your advantage in another post.

 

 

I would like to hear more about the tax thing. I always get a refund when I file my taxes. I've never had to pay for federal. State, on the other hand, I usually pay a little each year. 

3 hours ago, Tugboat said:

 

Okay.  So first..."blown in" insulation, i'm not sure what is being referred to here.

 

There are a few different things that people often refer to as that, which are very different.

 

 

From this, i'm guessing you're talking about "Loose Fill" stuff blown into the attic.  It's the best cheap way to moderate temperatures on both ends and it's pretty standard practice in most places and has been for a long time now...but old houses, you run into problems.  When you're retrofitting.  You need to make sure of a few things. Venting.  But also...

 

1)That you've got that attic properly sealed off with a vapor barrier from the walls/ceilings.  If you don't do that, you'll get weird mold at the corners. Mold basically just grows wherever there are weird temperature differentials that aren't controlled by a barrier.  That makes moisture.  And moist makes mold.  If there's no barrier...it goes through.

But if your house currently has nothing up there, i'd want to make sure that whatever company is blowing me can at least answer some questions about that.  Or just generally explain things.  Probably doesn't even matter if your questions make sense...just see if it throws them off or whatever.

 

2)If you're talking about spray foamy ****...that's a whole different ballpark.  For one, they're both super awful in terms of offgassing.  Toxic as heck.  Just keeps gassing forever basically.  The other thing is...open cell foam has the problem above.  Closed cell foam has a different problem...where it gets super messy with vapor things and is usually done wrong.  Then five-ten years later it contracts and you've got an even more massive bigger problem.  

 

 

Trying to figure out what a "good depth" for "blown in" insulation is really down to the product and the application.  It'll have an R value for resistance to heat transfer per inch...but that's still only part of it.  Especially in an attic with presumably some sort of trusses.  Mostly beyond the realm of things people give a **** about in a typical single family detached home.  But it does, and can very much matter.  But if you start asking questions about a "depth" of insulation that'll probably give you a clue if they know what they're doing or not for whatever your area is, or just in general.

I leaned toward blown in insulation because I thought it was the least complex, and cheapest, way to insulate my attic. It seems a little more complex than originally planned. 

So, I don't know this for sure, but I imagine that my house does not have a vapor barrier. There was insulation in my attic when it was built, but that was 60 years ago. There was nobody living in it when I bought it and it was getting pretty run down. Something had nested in/destroyed all the insulation. It was just rolled in stuff. 

[vike daddy]

27 minutes ago, MOSteelers56 said:

I would like to hear more about the tax thing. I always get a refund when I file my taxes. I've never had to pay for federal. State, on the other hand, I usually pay a little each year. 

so, you are a W-2 employee of someone else?

[MOSteelers56]

2 minutes ago, vike daddy said:

so, you are a W-2 employee of someone else?

Yes

[vike daddy]

50 minutes ago, MOSteelers56 said:

Yes

you don't "pay taxes" at the end of the year, because you pay them instead out of every paycheck during the year, with what is withheld from your earnings.

so you have no taxes owed to the feds at the end of the year. since the 5695 is a credit toward your taxes owed so to reduce your tax debt, but you have no federal tax debt, so the credit does you no good. it is not a refund, it only reduces what you owe.

so you need to owe something to make use of it.

so you discuss your withholding levels with your company HR or bookkeeping department and modify your withholdings so they are taking less from your paycheck every week. this results in two things: 1), your take home paycheck is now larger, and 2) you now owe taxes at the end of the year. so now the tax credit can be applied to that debt and reduce it.

then, after the tax year has passed and the credit is used, you change your withholdings back to what they were, so you end up not owing taxes again at the end.

make sense?

 

the 30% federal energy savings tax credit is substantial. no one pays you 30% back when you buy a fuel efficient car or home appliance. it is an incentive for you to invest in energy savings in your home, which in turn helps all of our society out with lesser fuel consumption.

if your attic insulation job costs you $5000, you'll receive a credit of 30% of that, or $1500. meaning you really only spent $3500 to insulate your home better, PLUS the fuel cost savings you will receive every year from now on.

it pays for itself.

[MOSteelers56]

33 minutes ago, vike daddy said:

you don't "pay taxes" at the end of the year, because you pay them instead out of every paycheck during the year, with what is withheld from your earnings.

so you have no taxes owed to the feds at the end of the year. since the 5695 is a credit toward your taxes owed so to reduce your tax debt, but you have no federal tax debt, so the credit does you no good. it is not a refund, it only reduces what you owe.

so you need to owe something to make use of it.

so you discuss your withholding levels with your company HR or bookkeeping department and modify your withholdings so they are taking less from your paycheck every week. this results in two things: 1), your take home paycheck is now larger, and 2) you now owe taxes at the end of the year. so now the tax credit can be applied to that debt and reduce it.

then, after the tax year has passed and the credit is used, you change your withholdings back to what they were, so you end up not owing taxes again at the end.

make sense?

 

the 30% federal energy savings tax credit is substantial. no one pays you 30% back when you buy a fuel efficient car or home appliance. it is an incentive for you to invest in energy savings in your home, which in turn helps all of our society out with lesser fuel consumption.

if your attic insulation job costs you $5000, you'll receive a credit of 30% of that, or $1500. meaning you really only spent $3500 to insulate your home better, PLUS the fuel cost savings you will receive every year from now on.

it pays for itself.

You've given me a lot to think about, old man. I'm going to call my energy company and talk to them about these things. They've been sending mail about energy saving rebates for years now. After seeing someone I respect say something about it, I suppose I'll finally pay attention. 

[vike daddy]

Just now, MOSteelers56 said:

You've given me a lot to think about, old man. I'm going to call my energy company and talk to them about these things. They've been sending mail about energy saving rebates for years now. After seeing someone I respect say something about it, I suppose I'll finally pay attention. 

do you file your own taxes, or use an expert?

 

and by the way, companies like H&R Block are not experts.

[MOSteelers56]

Just now, vike daddy said:

do you file your own taxes, or use an expert?

 

and by the way, companies like H&R Block are not experts.

I file my own with cash app. 

[vike daddy]

3 minutes ago, MOSteelers56 said:

I file my own with cash app. 

do your own major car mechanics? your own dental work? represent yourself in court if you find yourself there?

 

get my point? we use experts to understand the things that we are not educated well enough to fully make use of. tax laws and benefits change EVERY YEAR, are you aware of these changes? read up on them? educate yourself?

there was one time i paid an accountant $600 for her fee, and she found $11,000 worth of benefits i could take advantage of.

[MOSteelers56]

1 minute ago, vike daddy said:

do your own major car mechanics? your own dental work? represent yourself in court if you find yourself there?

Yes, Yes, and Yes. I don't want no fancy city boy messing with my car or my tooth. 

[naptownskinsfan]

On 5/20/2024 at 10:59 AM, vike daddy said:

do you file your own taxes, or use an expert?

 

and by the way, companies like H&R Block are not experts.

My guy at H&R has the right certifications, so you have to look at who you are getting specifically.  If you just walk in or call them, chances are you aren’t getting the ‘expert’ 

He was extremely up to date on the new codes for how 3rd party ticket sales worked.  If I did my own taxes, I would have paid taxes on the money that I gained from the sale of Orioles and Commanders tickets on SeatGeek, as they both are the ticket-processors for season tickets.  However, he saw that I also purchased tickets from SeatGeek, which he said was a cost-basis of the investment, so it would net out to not owing any money since it was the same amount.  

But yeah, you definitely need to check with the experts, and stuff changes every year, so it is even harder to find someone for this.  I got extremely lucky to get the recommendation for this guy.  

[Heimdallr]

Anyone have tips for repelling mice? I had a big problem last fall and used peppermint oil to try to ward them off, and killed about 20-30 with mouse traps. I just now saw another so they are coming back again. 

[naptownskinsfan]

33 minutes ago, Heimdallr said:

Anyone have tips for repelling mice? I had a big problem last fall and used peppermint oil to try to ward them off, and killed about 20-30 with mouse traps. I just now saw another so they are coming back again. 

I would say to hire an exterminator, look for a local/regional company so you are more than just a number to them.  I have a really bad ant problem, and I get a 24-48 hour response time if I need it for anything, ants or not.  Granted, if I suddenly have a mouse problem and it doesn’t go away within a couple months, they have the right in the contract to raise the monthly fee, but I’m fine with that.  

One of my work sites had a huge infestation 10 years ago, in part due to neglect from the landlords.  In the numbers you are talking, you need to have a professional come out and look over every square foot of your home.  They will be able to spot all points of entry and points of travel through the home, and lock them down with steel wool, or spray foam or whatever works for that spot.  My grandmother had some get in her house, and they got into the basement through the dishwasher drain.  So he put snap traps around the garage, filled in the travel paths to the basement, put some traps in the basement, filled the AC lines with foam and wool and put a bait box outside in a couple places.  

If you are doing this on your own, steel wool and spray foam, and bait boxes at major points of entry, and put them flush against the wall, as mice are going to travel right up against baseboards/wall and right up to the exterior of the house.  Snap traps where you think they are traveling and where there are droppings.  

[MWil23]

1 hour ago, Heimdallr said:

Anyone have tips for repelling mice? I had a big problem last fall and used peppermint oil to try to ward them off, and killed about 20-30 with mouse traps. I just now saw another so they are coming back again. 

Find a local farmer, get a couple of farm cats, enjoy the cuddles and watch them do the work for you.