Rental Property Investor · Boerne, TX · Member since 2015 · 94 posts · 52 votes
Hello, we recently purchased two rental homes and need to add insulation to both. One we are planning a garage conversion and need to insulate over the garage and add to the rest of the atic, as we are stretching the capacity of the AC with the extra sqft.
Second house had a possum in the attic for a while and between the compressed insulation and the areas of "soiled" insulation that were removed we need to add some.
Anyone have a recommendation for someone to handle these two projects? Hoping to do both houses the same day (5 miles apart) and keep the price low.
Anyone have suggestions on doing a (permitted) garage conversion in San Antonio?
Thanks,
Todd
Londonderry, NH · Member since 2015 · 98 posts · 89 votes
9y
@Todd Nurnberger as @Dustin Lavender said, check on rebates or incentives for weatherizing with both the utility provider and federal/state/local government. I have a 2-family in Massachusetts that I just had cellulose blown in all the walls and attic area. They gave me up to 3k per unit which completely covered the 1st floor unit and 1/2 of the 2nd unit (2nd floor, 3rd floor, and attic). Total price was 9.5k of which i only had to pay 3.5k.
Another option is to DIY. Home Depot and Lowes around me will give you the machine for free for 24 hours if you buy a certain number of bags of cellulose or fiberglass.
Rental Property Investor · San Antonio, TX · Member since 2011 · 512 posts · 290 votes
9y
Todd. Have you looked into the "one stop" downtown for code questions? I just went down there today and learned quite a bit about zoning. I would recommend trying that. It's near Southtown area. Give me a call if you are unfamiliar. It has another name too like "business development center" but I don't think that is correct.
Investor · searcy, AR · Member since 2016 · 147 posts · 111 votes
9y
I work for an energy efficiency company. Many times your utility company will offer incentives for insulation. In Arkansas you can actually get it done by the utility completely free. The company I work for also handles programs like this in Texas. Check with your utility company!
Londonderry, NH · Member since 2015 · 98 posts · 89 votes
9y
@Todd Nurnberger as @Dustin Lavender said, check on rebates or incentives for weatherizing with both the utility provider and federal/state/local government. I have a 2-family in Massachusetts that I just had cellulose blown in all the walls and attic area. They gave me up to 3k per unit which completely covered the 1st floor unit and 1/2 of the 2nd unit (2nd floor, 3rd floor, and attic). Total price was 9.5k of which i only had to pay 3.5k.
Another option is to DIY. Home Depot and Lowes around me will give you the machine for free for 24 hours if you buy a certain number of bags of cellulose or fiberglass.
Rental Property Investor · Boerne, TX · Member since 2015 · 94 posts · 52 votes
9y
Will Pritchett I still need to check out the on stop code office. Had two contractors come over to give bids, but neither camelback with a bid.
On the insulation, the wife and I tackled one of the houses yesterday. Tenant moves in today, so we ran out of time. We bought 30 bags of cellulose at HD for ~$11.50/bag and they give you free rental of the machine with >20 bags. The key to the project was to cut 26" x 48" pieces of 7/16 pan to use as temp flooring as unmoved around the attic. Job turned out great, took about 3-4 hours from start to finish. Not a "fun" job but it felt great to have it done. I would recommend starting as early in the day as possible as it get hot fast working in the attic. A good headlamp and portable work lights also helped a lot. Definitely a two person job, but lots of good info on YouTube.
San Antonio, TX · Member since 2016 · 240 posts · 163 votes
8y
@Todd Nurnberger Hi Todd! Congrats on your new acquisitions. I am going to add insulation on a couple of houses as well. Did you happen to check if CPS has any type of rebates for doing this? Any more tips?
Rental Property Investor · Boerne, TX · Member since 2015 · 94 posts · 52 votes
8y
Update: We received our rebate check from CPS this weekend! Wow what a rebate program! We applied for $300 rebate based on the sqft and the number of bags we installed, that cost us $336. CPS cut us a check for $400!!!
I highly recommend applying for the rebate if you are considering adding insulation, and best process is to get the form ahead of time so you can make sure you buy enough to get the blower for free and you meet the rebate requirements. @Betty Cruz thanks for your tip to go after the rebate.