08 May How To Install Multi-Layer Insulation – Part 2
Yellowblue installer Eric Mortenson breaks down the detailed process behind one of the most popular yellowblue products there is: multi-layer reflective insulation. See how this insulative material can reduce home energy consumption and create a more cost-effective, comfortable living space for all within the home. Part two of the series.
Check out Part 1 here.
What we’re seeing here is we’re seeing a continuous systematic approach to keep material moving in at all times. We’ve really only made one pass across the attic. Jason is doing a very nice job I’m getting this material out over the top plate and we can’t stress that enough. There’s just a enormous amount of energy loss that takes place at the top plate. You can see Jason’s knee right there. He’s using the crotch of these webs to hold himself up and it’s a very safe place to find a place to kneel or to find some footing. As you can see, when using this method, the majority of the entire area of insulation will go undisturbed.
I’m rolling off slack so Jason. It doesn’t have to fight against the weight of the roll. When you’re cutting material, make sure you’re on good footing. If you notice I keep returning to our main workstation. Anytime you can come back to your workstation and keep yourself safe and sound, it’s a great idea. We’re gonna use our tools to give material to each other and I’m just going to double check to give my length with my colleague up here.
One thing I’d like to talk to you guys about real quick — we did mention that we overlap everything. Now, that doesn’t mean we overlap everything by a foot. That would be way more overlap than we need, so I know that we typically strive for about a two to four inch. Now Jason’s placing this material. I’d like to just cover a little bit of brief safety information with everybody. There’s a couple things everybody should be aware of that are gonna be consistently found in almost every attic.
This is what’s called a gusset and these gussets are what they use to hold all of these framing members together. Anytime there’s a gusset up here, you’re also going to find gussets down here. This is why I want you guys to know that they’re there. You can see that’s obviously got a very sharp corner on it. There’s teeth sticking out of the back of these, and more often than not, these gussets are typically longer than the framing that they’re attached to and they’re very dangerous so we encourage everybody to know to wear appropriate attire to protect yourself from it. And most importantly, be aware that they’re there and stay away from them.
Other than that, we’ve clearly got some nails coming through our roof-sheeting and sometimes we do wear hardhats when we’re in some other small, tighter areas to protect our heads. You never would want to stand up into a nail so just be aware of those things. What you can see here is a bulkhead manifold. This is where all of our air duct supply is teeing off and going to all our different supplies. So, clearly we’ve got a little bit of an elevation change and this is something we are going to cover.
This is an area where we may need to use a little bit of tape and just a couple other techniques so I’m going to make sure to keep myself on the other side of this bulkhead so I can help Jason get material through this other side. I wanted to show you guys a couple interesting things. As you can see I’ve got some ducts here. I’ve got this bulkhead so I’ve got a tricky area to work in.
A couple things — number one: I’m using an extra roll and I’ve got it wedged between these webs. It’s given me a good station from which to access this area. Secondly, you can see we’ve got some electrical wiring and we’re approaching the kitchen area which is about right where I’m at. So, as we get into this area we’re going to have to be aware of those can lights that we found in our walk through and we’re going to have to make sure that everything we step on is solid wood framing and nothing else. It might feel like a can or anything like that you. I’m going to slide my roll out here and I’m going to feed Jason the open end so he can grab onto it with his Pole.
It may be hard to see on camera but Jason’s done a great job of applying our insulation over the top plate. One thing you don’t want to do is go too far and block any that passive intakes. Jason’s doing a great job of stopping right where you need to. What we’re looking at here everybody is called an “attic baffle”. This is connecting your passive soffit intake ventilation to your dead air space in your attic chamber.
Occasionally, these baffles will be found laying in the insulation. There’s just some staples holding it up. Always make sure we go underneath the baffle. Just like we would have worked a two-foot piece in between, I started my two-foot piece and we’re just going to continue that up and on top of the bulkhead and then I’m even going to take another piece and go perpendicular to cover each side of the bulkhead.
We’ll do a little bit of taping here. You can see you can use your pole to retrieve material and bring it to you. It’s long enough to cover that bulkhead. Now, we’re over the dining room where we found the elevation-change on our initial walk-through. As you can see we’ve got a little bit of a new wall and that’s covered and protected by some pink padding insulation. That’s how we know that elevation changes here and clearly we can see the rise to the top of the insulation would be very difficult for any one person’s body to get out over this structure.
We’re going to use our long pole and we’re going to work with our tools to cover as much of this as we can, safely and effectively. It’s the same principle. I’m just taking the slack off the roll so I don’t have to fight the weight of the roll. I knew that wire was there but it’s very very important that you never guess what you’re cutting through because it would be very easy to cut a wire occasionally. Always be aware of any wires that are present.
We’re going to go ahead and tuck this piece into place as best we can and then we want to go ahead and drape it over the knee wall as much as we can as well. It’s also very important that installers watch behind them for anybody that might be in the attic with them behind them so we don’t hit each.
We’re going to do the same thing up the other side and then we’re going to go ahead and headpiece in some two foot pieces in any areas that we weren’t able to cover with four foot pieces. We’re just taking slack off the roll. In these situations, it can be very helpful to fold over about a foot of material over your tool and use that to push a little bit harder and a little bit more aggressively. When you get your material in place, you just go ahead and push your extra slack out.
We’re going to use some two foot pieces and we’re going to go ahead and fill in in any areas that we couldn’t get any larger material in. We’re just going to do our best to cover as much as possible. It’s fairly common to find some strange strange compartments and situations and
attics and we just need to do our best to cover as much area as possible while also staying safe and not causing any damage to the hole.
This isn’t a very big room. So although it can be overwhelming, you just have to understand it can be very doable. You just need to be systematic and take a smart approach.
Make nice clean cuts around all the trusses and around all the framing member. You don’t want anything over cut just nice and tight around all of all the framing members. Just take your time and do a good job. Roll this piece back up because we’re getting into the area over the kitchen with the can lights. We’re going to need to do some foaming because this is an area where, due to this elevation-change, this would be a few areas where we would use some tape. What I’m going to do is just make a little relief-cut right here. Allow that material wto lay nice and tight up against everything.
Just roll some tape off because it’s very sticky and it can be very very difficult to start the roll here. Just roll that off and then I’m gonna fold this back over just like that so that I’ve got a tab. Go ahead and pull that right back off just nice and easy.
I’m just going to cut off little pieces as I need them here and we’re just going to use a couple straps to hold this material in place. There’s not going to be a whole lot up here to disturb this so you don’t need to go crazy. You just need enough to make sure that it stays in place for a long period.
Okay. We’re all finished with the installation. It was that kind of hot up there, but the solar fan did help to cool off a little bit. All in all, it’s a successful day. This was a very busy attic and it was a really good opportunity for us to show you a lot of different things. I hope you guys all find it helpful. It helps to have really good help.
Be safe. Take your time. Do a good job and and you’re going to see great results. Some of the products I know the customers really excited about that what we’ve done and I feel real proud to be part of this team and be proud I’m proud to work with these great installers.
We would like all of you out there to learn from this video and try to emulate what you learned. That’s the key to success — high quality installations.
Let’s leave the house clean! Thank you!
