Dad told me to rip out the old insulation instead of topping it up

My dad came over last weekend while I was adding attic insulation and insisted I should tear out the old blown-in stuff first because it might have moisture issues, even though it looked fine to me. He said his friend in Mississauga found black mold after just piling new insulation on top last year and had to rip it all out anyway. Has anyone here actually had problems from layering new insulation over old in a Toronto home?

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3 Comments

the_rowan5mo ago

His friend's story sounds like a cautionary tale from the attic gods. Maybe your dad is just looking for an excuse to spend a Saturday doing manual labor with you, but he might have a point. Old insulation can hide moisture like a teenager hides dirty laundry. I'd poke around up there with a flashlight and a mask before making the call, just to be safe.

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perez.patricia5mo ago

My uncle once insisted on redoing his whole attic insulation because he found one mouse dropping up there. Spent three weekends wrestling with fiberglass batts, ended up with a rash that looked like a bad sunburn, and the mouse was long gone by then anyway. I'm not saying your dad is wrong about the moisture thing, but sometimes people get tunnel vision on a project and forget to check if it's actually needed first. Maybe just grab a cheap moisture meter from the hardware store before you commit to anything.

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sammoore5mo ago

Moisture meters can lie too, my friend.

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