Is $3,750 to improve knee wall and attic ventilation and insulation a fair price?
Project Details
Our house gets somewhat hot upstairs, and the brand new Mitsubishi heat pump struggles to keep up. We have three bedrooms upstairs, with East, South, and West facing windows, with the South and West ones being the worst. We currently have open soffit vents with baffles, insulation behind the knee walls, baffles in the joists, and some attic insulation. However, I've realized that neither the knee walls nor the attic have exhaust, and the attic lacks an air intake. The knee walls and attic are not currently connected. Even with outside temperatures in the 70s, it gets into the 80s upstairs, despite using honeycomb blinds, and the heat pump cannot keep up (though it can cool downstairs further, making it freezing). Ducts are insulated, and no significant leaks were identified; we have an upstairs and a downstairs return. My goal is to make the upstairs temperature a little more tolerable, by dropping 4-5 degrees. On the hottest days, the attic was comfortably above 110 degrees, but I'm unsure if it's the main source of heat or if the windows are the primary issue, which is my hesitation. I considered adding fans, but I prefer passive solutions. The red mark in the bottom middle of the diagram was an error; it should have been green, denoting that someone before us already enclosed that section. This has led to some confusion, as some parts of the system are done very well, but others are not. Right now, it gets so hot upstairs that the return air heats up the lower floors, causing the heat pump to kick in.
Quote Details
The proposed work aims to improve the ventilation and insulation of the knee walls and attic to address high upstairs temperatures. - Connect the knee wall to the attic. - Slide in baffles in the roof rafters. - Add three net 50 exhaust vents to ventilate the attic. - Blow in additional insulation to increase the R-value from R25 to R50.
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More Details
Category
Insulation
Price
$3,750
Quote Date
September 6, 2025
Insulation Type
Blown In
R Value
R50
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