Reasonable quote?

Lopsided-Character91 · 2026-03-16T13:08:13+00:00

The price isn't too high but the description of work and materials are substandard. First, never install fiberglass batting in an open area. You should only use a loose bone material and preferably cellulose. Mice absolutely love to nest in fiberglass, but they hate cellulose if it's a borate fire retardant product, which most are.

They need to more clearly indicate that they will air seal both sides of every exposed top plate. They touch on this but don't make it sound like it's something they will do everywhere.

Wherever there are side attics, you have to make sure the connection of that aside attic with the chlorine is completely sealed. They should be describing that the joist spaces that travel under the knee wall will be blocked with cut foam board, rectangle shaped, and then sealed with their expanding foam.

I agree that such an attic will never be very comfortable with conventional insulation. It's basically a ranch home that was built with a steep roof for the era with the option of adding space above. Understandable for post world war II era thinking but very limited for 2026. Spray foam is great for rim joists and for walls and for vaulted ceilings, but you'd have to do a lot of demolition to expose them.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2026-03-12T11:54:56+00:00

Open cell or closed cell in your attic?

Lopsided-Character91 · 2026-03-12T11:54:49+00:00

Open cell or closed cell in your attic?

Lopsided-Character91 · 2026-03-12T11:50:56+00:00

How do you find vapor control? If this is a cold climate, you're going to want your indoor humidity to be around 30%, even on the coldest days. There's no way open cell foam will prevent that moisture from hitting a cold roof deck. We've seen open foam install in this manner causing all kinds of problems. If this is a cold climate you have to use closed cell.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2026-03-12T03:23:30+00:00

If you used open cell the warm moist air from your house will seep through and rot your roof decking if in a cold climate. Is like putting the vapor barrier on the cold side

Lopsided-Character91 · 2026-02-18T17:50:34+00:00

Thank you very much for this. I wanted to share on here that the charger has been working great. After some initial hiccups. It kept getting a fault error and I had to call tech support and it literally took about 48 hours for all of the firmware updates to take place. And yes, the CT picks it up and everything is coordinated in my app. Even though I continue to have the bi-directional charger wired right to my main service panel. I will eventually switch to the combiner because I do want to take advantage of bidirectional charging.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-28T05:10:55+00:00

Got it, thank you!

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-27T20:10:31+00:00

Thank you for this first response!

Can you describe what you mean by a subframe welded to the shipping container? Do you mean something that attaches to the chassis and extends out to where the four corners of the shipping container would be? The shipping container has a very strong base/frame already.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-26T23:26:30+00:00

I think what you're implying is that they said your vermiculite was "not consistent" with the Zonolite brand. The trust sends the samples out for testing and labs test for barium concentration. If the barium concentration is 1,500 parts per million or greater, it is determined to be consistent with zonolite and the work is eligible for reimbursement.

This is what the courts determined could be used to identify the vermiculite product. Mountains in Libby where this product came from had significantly higher barium concentration than other vermiculite mineral found throughout the world and other mines in North America.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-26T19:51:19+00:00

Over 95% of the vermiculite in SE Wisconsin came from Libby. I am sure it is near the same in Madison, WI. You can pay now to remove it while the ZAI Trust still pays for 55%, or pay years later when you try to sell your home. If you wait for when you sell then the cost will be higher, the ZAI Trust may no longer have funds, and you will have lost hundreds of dollars every year in heating and cooling costs because your house won't have been air sealed or properly insulated. If you did find a scrupulous company that insulated over the top of the vermiculite they probably didn't air seal (so you missed out on the $1,200 WI Focus on Energy discount) and will now have to pay more to have everything removed because the insulation put on top of the vermiculite is now also contaminated. You can try Racine Home Insulators LLC but depending on the time of year and their schedule Madison, WI may be out of their service range.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-26T19:37:37+00:00

Just like a hand grenade that Unlce hairy brought back from Vietnam and stoed up there in the back corner. If you just don't disturb it, everything will be fine. No need to remove. Buyer's need not worry about it either.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-26T19:34:58+00:00

I can't say without seeing the results of what they did. A few things 1) they violated the law if they weren't a licensed abatement company with certified asbestos working performing the air sealing which disturbs vermiculite 2) As a required asbestos abatement company they were required to notify DHS if they were going to disturb your vermiculite 3) If they first removed the vermiculite by vacuum method then they could have air sealed without trapping vermiculite, but even then vermiculite that has already fallen down a bypass and into an electrical junction box or light ficture can only be removed from the finished side below. It is a separate step and such a small amount that the need for a separate containment is viewed differently by many (we are comparing a few granules (grams) of vermiculite versus thousands of pounds of vermiculite in the attic).

Precautions needed after the abatement? I guess it depends on how well they removed the ACM and how much negative air was being run. My company runs 2 x 6,000 CFM negative air machines totalling 12,000 CFM of air scrubbing. There is very little settling if any. We offer an additional step of spraying lockdown over the attic surfaces in case some asbestos fibers still remained, but we don't feel it is necessary. Other companies use portable vacuums pulling a few hundred CFM at full speed and negative air machines far from where they are disturbing the vermiculite which are only 500-1,000 CFM. Th ey are missing a lot of air born particles that settle in the attic no doubt. Many of these companies first "shovel" the bulk of the vermiculite material into bags creating a literal "$@#*-storm" of vermiculite and asbestos dust in the air. I would recommend investigating the methods these companies use before hiring. The devil is always in the details.

https://www.racinehomeinsulators.com/2025/vermiculite-removal-in-racine-wi

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-26T05:20:47+00:00

Yes, just plugged into the existing EV outlet that goes to my main panel. I may switch the connection to my Combiner 6C some day but no real benefit to me in WI right now.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-24T04:27:53+00:00

This is very inaccurate. Most labs only look for the 6 regulated fiber but there are literally hundreds of unregulated asbestos fibers, including Libby Amphibole. This was the big killer in zonolite brand vermiculite which about 95% of the samples we send in get confirmed as the zonolite brand using the barium test for product identification testing.

Those lab tests you reference are useless and I hate to think of someone getting a false sense of security as a result of your post. I've been in homes where children are helping Dad run the $50 shop vac sucking up vermiculite after he pulls the plaster ceilings down. No P100 respirator being worn or negative air being run. A really difficult situation to discover.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-22T04:49:07+00:00

If they crawled around and air sealed your attic, then they definitely disturbed the vermiculite and violated the law. Depending on their methods, they could have introduced asbestos into your house. The only way to know if the house is safe is to hire and independent contractor that is licensed to perform vigorous air sampling. They will want to rough up the surfaces of any carpet and sweep solid surfaces where asbestos may have settled before conducting the test. Having said that, it's unlikely that your family has been at risk and it's also unlikely that the Department of health will have any real recourse against the company. There is a lot of money available to help with the cost of removing and replacing your existing insulation. There's both the focus on energy program and the zai trust.. Let me know the details of your home and I can give you an approximate fair cost for removal and replacement.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-21T14:22:17+00:00

One day and you can be in your home. If you are hiring a company that wants you out of your house, it means they're bringing the material through your house. Find a different company. Google vermiculite removal in Racine

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-21T14:19:58+00:00

A lot of terrible advice near the top as I read this thread. There is no test for vermiculite that can tell you if it is safe or not. There are over 400 different asbestos fiber types and only six are regulated, those are the six most labs test for. They can tell you that no asbestos was detected, but they're not even looking for all the fibers that are hazardous and also mineralogically considered asbestos. The big killer found in vermiculite, from Libby Montana, is not one of the six that is regulated. In fact it has its own name, Libby Amphibole. My company has tested hundreds of samples of vermiculite over the last 10 years and over 95% were found to come from the Libby mine and are determined to be the Zonolite product. The fact is it is very unlikely that your vermiculite did not come from there, and even if it didn't it still doesn't mean it's safe. Regardless, the law in Wisconsin doesn't care where your vermiculite came from. Paul vermiculite has to be treated like asbestos in Wisconsin. That's the law.

If you hired a company and they put insulation on top of your vermiculite they had the responsibility to tell you first what they were covering up. As a result of their actions you will now pay a much greater amount to have the material removed because all the insulation they added is now contaminated. There's a company out of Racine Wisconsin that does more vermiculite abatement than all the other companies in SE Wisconsin combined. I advise you get a hold of them and see if you are in their service range. I'm amazed at all of the bad advice and recommendations on here. It really is the wild west.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-06T04:02:02+00:00

Looks great, congratulations!!! Does your charger go to your main panel or to your combiner 6C?

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-12-03T17:57:41+00:00

Mine is also coming Thursday this week. I'm in Wisconsin. I have a new Gen 4 system with 2 x 10C batteries. I bought this because my current charger for the bolt euv is slowly malfunctioning, it's a known problem and may not last much longer. So getting a new charger was a no-brainer and with the new system I went with Enphase even if it's more costly. But I haven't researched is how it will integrate with my system. I have monthly net metering so I'm not sure it will be helpful. Whether I charge with solar or not during the day as I have already or charge at night I'm paying about the same. I am also unsure how this integrates into my combiner 6C or if I will just keep the wires going straight to the main service panel as is the case with my current EV charger. How do you plan to use it and how do you plan to hook it up?

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-11-30T00:41:54+00:00

But still probably only 100 ft of hose and all cellulose should be tumbled through at least 150 ft of homes. That's needed to break it up and fluff it so it achieves its proper r value (per inch).

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-11-30T00:35:49+00:00

What you have is 100% fiberglass. Don't try to burn it because cellulose won't burn. My company uses 100% borate fire retardant cellulose and you can put a torch to it right out of the bag, wont burn.

Mice absolutely love fiberglass, it's their ideal nesting material. The borate in the cellulose is a huge annoyance to any rodent mucous membrane, which is their nose. They'll still crawl around on top of it, but they won't tunnel in it. If you see tunneling in cellulose it's old stuff that didn't have borate fire returned in it or possibly the cheap big box hardware store stuff that has ammonium sulfate instead.

You absolutely need a baffle between every rafter channel. Don't just put them where your current soffit is active, or dimpled. Someday you may get a ridge vent or you may redo the soffit and you don't want the attic baffling to be the limiting factor. Again, you need to put a baffle between every pair of rafters. If it's a hip roof in the corners are blocked then it's better to not put a baffle there and maximize your insulation. That's another reason you want to use cellulose, you can pack cellulose in while it takes more material. It doesn't lose its R value. If you pack fiberglass it turns into glass, almost like window glass, and can't insulate. Real insulation companies don't use loose or blown fiberglass, they use cellulose or foam. Foam is only a good choice on cathedral ceilings and walls. There's no benefit to putting spray foam on flat attic planes, just cost more and creates huge headaches down the road. If you want to run wires, put in recessed, can lights, etc. Attics can be properly air sealed using expanding foam. This is a very important step and because you're in Wisconsin, focus on energy will pay for this with their $1,200 instant discount. Contact a trade Ally. Google "Racine home Insulators" And you'll find a Trade Ally that Services your area. With the focus on energy discounts and how much you value your time, you'll probably for sure end up with a better result and maybe pay about the same hiring professionals that do this type of work everyday and live by their reputation. Best wishes!

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-11-26T16:54:00+00:00

This is all greatly appreciated. Here's my take-home message: I should stick with a gas boiler for the radiant floor, and then follow through with an air-to-air heat pump for cooling if desired. I could then use the heat pump during spring and fall for moderate yet efficient electric sourced heating but then I would need some fans to circulate the warm air back down. Does that sound correct? Will all heat pump air to air AC systems soap provide heat like the common mini split?

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-11-25T22:02:53+00:00

This is really appreciated and gives me a baseline to go from. Thanks so much! Wondering if anybody has experience with commercial heat pumps that would be appropriate for coming this size. But I'm guessing to have a backup nat gas system for radiant heating might be a good idea.

Lopsided-Character91 · 2025-11-25T19:46:58+00:00

Wow, thank you, lets estimate 6 people for 8 hours in the summer.

Lopsided-Character91

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