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| I just love how 1 project always turns into 3. We need to insulate our attic. If we insulate before the end of April we will get a 75% rebate up to $750. The insulation would be the blow in kind and, as our attic isn't very tall, once it's in, we won't be able to upgrade any electric that runs through there without taking out the insulation.
How DIY would this kind of project be? I don't even know where to begin educating myself on this one. DH has worked with electric before, but not permanent/residential. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| From what I've seen of diy electrical work, I'd strongly advise against it. Take a course. That's how I learned the basics from a pro whose fulltime job was training electric streetcar technicians, and who even authored a standard text on wiring. I've personally wired whole houses to Code and passed. No more. It's too tedious. I shudder when I read some of the questions on the electrical forum here, where there clearly are some very qualified electricians trying to guide the diy's straight. |
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| Is your attic space finished and usable? Not sure because you mention the ceiling isn't high. Are you considering insulating the ceiling or the floor of the attic? If it's an unfinished attic and you aren't going to use it in the near term, just lay insulation on the floor of the attic. Why are you considering the blown in kind? |
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- Posted by blackcats13 (My Page) on Wed, Apr 8, 09 at 20:44
| Yes, I pretty much assumed electric wouldn't be DIY, but I was hoping ;) I would actually love to take a course, and may do so at some point. I'm not sure if I should say it's finished or not finished, honestly. If our house were a Chicago bungalow it'd be easy to say, yes, finished attic. I guess it is? I'm adding the link to our house. The ceilings of the second floor are almost all normal height. The ceilings/attic floor start about 1.5 feet above the upstairs window top. We are insulting the floor of the attic because the roof will be replaced in the next few months (another story). I think the insulation guys say blown in because the space is so small and difficult to get into? You essentially climb up a 8 - 10 ft ladder and pull yourself into a square hole cut in the side of the wall (used to be house exterior). From there you can only crawl, not stand and maybe not crouch (I haven't been up). Once the roof, insulation, and electric in that area are done we hope to never see it again ;) |
Here is a link that might be useful: our house
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| If your wiring is not knob and tube, I can't see much need to upgrade. Any extra lines will come up from the panel, not down from the attic.
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| Addenda: some electricians do prefer running a sub-panel up to the attic. |
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- Posted by blackcats13 (My Page) on Thu, Apr 9, 09 at 0:12
| No knob and tube that we are currently aware of. We have some cloth covered (not everywhere), the attic has BX, and the panel is two 60Amp fuse panels. I'm not really sure what BX is, but we were told by someone who works for the fire dept that it should be replaced. I was kind of thinking that new wiring would/could come up instead of down, glad you mentioned that! The stuff currently in the attic is only for 4 ceiling fixtures on the 2nd floor, as far as we know. |
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| There are some concerns with older BX wiring. If that's what you have you might want to check it out before burying it in insulation. Any vintage BX I've seen has looked ok. But, then, I haven't seen yours! Same with knob and tube, which I always used to leave intact. Now, as I mentioned above, you can't get home insurance in the Province without a big penalty if k&t is in use. |
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| Taking a look at the pic I posted above, the connector (round thing at lower left of pic) is also verboten. It was used to combine the two separate k&t conductors to join with a cable. Still no separate ground on either though. Perhaps the mint connectors I still have are now collectors pieces. |
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- Posted by mightyanvil (My Page) on Thu, Apr 9, 09 at 13:38
| In my house I found the old BX cable to be far more dangerous than the knob & tube wiring. The insulation on the BX had crumbled and fallen off where it was exposed to air like in the wiring boxes. The insulation on the K&T wiring was much heavier and very difficult to remove with a knife. The advantage of the BX is that you can often pull it out of the walls and even use it to pull a new wire into place. |
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- Posted by fredsoldhouse (My Page) on Thu, Apr 9, 09 at 19:11
| I recently was faced with a similar situation. I was replacing some ancient ceiling boxes and found the BX insulation was crumbling. As a general rule, due to the age and condition of the BX in my house, I replace the BX whenever I have to work on it. I did take a night class a few years back at the local vocational school. Getting a good book on home wiring also helps. Honestly the class didn’t teach me anything I hadn’t already learned from reading but it was a great confidence builder. If you are only replacing and not changing things around I don’t think you will have much trouble at all. |
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- Posted by blackcats13 (My Page) on Thu, Apr 9, 09 at 19:52
| Thanks for that link Worthy, good info there! This house has already taught me to expect the worst, but maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. The PO were quite elderly, and their kids had moved out long ago, so I don't think much has been done to the house in awhile. I think we will crawl up there ourselves tomorrow or on Saturday. If it's bad 1 option is to just get the crawlspace under the addition insulated instead of the attic. It won't be as good of a use of the rebate, but it's better then completely missing it. Now I'm wondering if a second option could be to use the old BX to pull through new/good BX, and have an electrician come by to do the hook ups to the fixtures, if they would even do such a thing. We have 'handyman' companies here that have licensed electricians and are well rated. |
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