8
My neighbor was right about that old insulation trick
When we bought our 1950s bungalow in Decatur, Mr. Henderson next door kept insisting we keep the original rock wool insulation in the attic. I thought he was just being old-fashioned and we spent $1,200 to have it all removed and replaced with modern fiberglass. Three winters later, our heating bills are actually higher than his, and I found out rock wool is fireproof and works great. Now my attic has these new batts that settled after 6 months and left gaps near the eaves. Has anyone else regretted ripping out original materials from an older Atlanta home?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
lucas_carr246d ago
You ever notice how every time we think we're upgrading something, we're really just swapping one set of problems for another? My buddy spent a fortune replacing his old wooden windows with vinyl ones, and now they're warping after five years while my grandma's original ones are still going strong. It's like we've convinced ourselves that anything modern is automatically better, but half the time it's just cheaper plastic junk made to fall apart. I've seen it with old brick houses too people tear out perfectly good plaster walls for drywall and end up with cracks everywhere. Seems like sometimes the stuff that's been there for 70 years has already proven it can handle Georgia summers and winters just fine.
10
mark496d ago
That $1,200 hit is rough. I live over in East Atlanta and my place was built in 1948, so I get it. Mr. Henderson sounds like the kind of neighbor who's been through enough Georgia summers to know what actually works. I've seen rock wool in old attics and that stuff looks like it could survive a bomb, honestly. It's frustrating how easy it is to get talked into ripping out something that's already proven itself for decades. Tbh, I'm sitting here thinking about my own attic now and wondering if I should just leave it alone. Ngl, your story makes me want to go apologize to my own elderly neighbor for ever doubting their advice.
1