A few months ago, I helped a friend add approximately 6 inches of cellulose insulation to his attic.  It’s an intimidating project at first, but it turned out to be a very reasonable weekend project.  

It was much less expensive than I expected, and adding that much insulaltion will improve the comfort and energy efficiency of any home.

We immediately saw an improvement in the comfort level in one bedroom of his house where there was almost no insulation above the ceiling.

Here are the steps we took to install 6 inches of cellulose insulation:

1. Determine how much insulation you need — I used the a tool at the website of the manufacturer of the insulation product we were using to determine how deep to blow the insulation.
2. Gathered all the materials we would need:
   1. Insulation - purchased from Lowe’s or Home Depot.
   2. Insulation blower - rented for free (with a deposit) since we purchased 10 or more bags of insulation.
   3. Walkboards for moving around in the attic - these are crucial.  Get several pieces of 1/2 inch plywood to use for walkboards.  The boards should be large enough to lay across at least three rafters to provide a good stable base to stand on.
   4. Goggles and dust mask — this is a dirty job so be sure to cover up!
   5. Push broom - it’s tough to keep the insulation even as you blow it in.  Use the broom to level it out.
   6. Yard stick or other measuring device - this was critical to help me determine if I had blown enough insulation.
3. Set the equipment up according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
4. Get started!  Be sure to wear long pants and long sleeves.  Begin to insulate at the corner farthest from the attic access and work back. Be careful to step on top of and not between the ceiling joists.  Hold the hose approximately 3 feet above the installation surface and distribute the insulation evenly.

That’s it!  This is a project that seems more difficult than it really is.  If my friend hadn’t fallen through the ceiling into his office below (good reason to use walkboards), we would have completed this project in 4-6 hours — definitely a feasible Saturday project.

Photo credit:  juliaf