Question about installing blown-in attic insulation.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

Had the Lowes guy give me an estimate. He told me before they could install someone would need to pry out some planks that are nailed down on the ceiling joists. They're only in place for about an 8 foot radius from the attic access hatch, not throughout the whole 1200 sqft attic.

Does pulling those boards really sound necessary? Seems like you could just lay down the insulation on those as easily as you do the open joists. It would be a major pain to get up there and pry those suckers out.

[rusty quoin]

1. Why is it a major pain to remove the nails and take the boards out?

And if you left them, you could put loose batt fiberglass over the platform but you wouldn't have a continuous install leading to air transfer between the attic and interior space.

What sounds good to me is pull the nails, stack the boards to one side, blow in insulation on the other side, slide the boards over, install blown in on 2nd side, and finally nail down the boards so that you have attic storage.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. I'm not sure I understand why leaving them would interrupt the 'continuous install.'

Seems like it would be like covering a bed with a big quilt without moving the pillows out of the way. The quilt would follow the contours of bed & pillows but would still provide X-thickness of coverage over the entire lumpy surface.

[rusty quoin]

3. Yeah, that would be fine. Either way is fine. One is better, but it probably won't make a huge

difference. Do it your way and you make a huge difference. That is what you are after.