My father, no doubt, has been the brains behind this restoration project, but without question the muscle has been my cousin Cameron.  He is in welding school and only available a few hours weekday evenings and weekends, but when he’s on site things get done!  No way was I going to tackle insulation without him.  To save on cost I decided to do my own insulation.

I had lined up Tiburon Energy & Construction to do spray foam throughout the house.  That was at the start of the project.  That was going to cost me about $8,000.  I hated cancelling the foam as the owner, Daryn Goulbourne had been so helpful at the start of this project and it seems every HGTV/DIY home makeover uses it.  With my father and Cameron I was able to install R-13 fiberglass in the walls and R-19 in the attic rafters and ceiling in kitchen and dining (as sound buffer for master bedroom) for under $2,000.

We had the hottest temps of the season when we started the insulation project.  Despite wearing gloves and long sleeve shirts once the sweat starting pouring from your body it acted like a magnet attracting the fibers from the insulation.  Poison ivy is less itchy than fiberglass.  It was two weeks of more torture, but in the end it looked great and it proved to me once again the value of sweat equity.  I will still use Tiburon to blow insulation in the attic after drywall is complete and to foam the basement crevices.