The insulation removal project

You saw the damage the  critters did in the last post, that's just a sample  The damage above was previous tenants of the human variety.  An inpromptu attic access. The deeper we get in the attic, the worse it gets, the critters  made themselves at home, and the humans cut all of the electrical wiring.  The entire house will need to be rewired. The insulation  needs to go, and if it weren't for youtube, I would have no idea where to start.

Here we have a random loose outlet sitting in the attic.  We had been searching for the oven outlet in the kitchen but couldn't find it.  I told my contractor that it looked like the lady of the house decided not to cook anymore and had it removed.

Back to the insulation removal ...On a previous visit we started to assemble the beast. Parts were missing so a quick trip to Ace and we were ready to go.

The machines to do this are expensive, (in the thousands of dollars) and the contractor who came to give me a quote to reinsulate was impressed with our set up.  This machine was purchased at Harbor Freight, and modified to collect the blown in insulation.  The cost of this bad boy was $150 for the machine (using a coupon) another $40 for the non perforated French drain) and $.25 for the screws to fix the drain to the y fitting).

It didn't take long to fill the bags, and this set up was highly effective but, the bags fill up in no time, and I estimate it will take 120 bags to finish half the attic space.  Since the ceiling in the beam area will remain untouched for the moment.  This process requires the tyvek suit, and mask, as well as a headlamp.  So I am committed to filling 6 bags at each session.  It will take me an estimated 19 additional working days to complete this, which means I'm looking at finishing 4 months from now.  This will only be done when I get tired of tiling the little house.   The last tiling session inflamed my joints, a new experience for me, and not pleasant at that.  So we will need to move slower.  I will say for as much work as this is its been very satisfying to see how far we've already come.

Just as an aside this set up while effective is a little cumbersome.  The hose itself is not as flexible as I would like, and the ridges get caught around the AC vents.  Since I can't stand in the attic space This makes it worse, because now there's squatting and balancing involved.  I just hope there is some weight loss to show for my efforts ;)

That's all for now... doors next.