That ‘crepe paper’ in the ceiling isn’t from New Year’s past

House Improvement

As well as, is changing a tub with a wander-in shower worthy of the expense at resale?

By Mark Philben — World Correspondent

January 4, 2023 | 10:49 AM

Q. We are in the midst of lavatory renovations on a home developed in 1950. Right after opening up a part of the ceiling in the upstairs bathroom, we located what looks like layered black crepe paper employed as insulation. It is incredibly friable. Must we swap ir or increase modern-day insulation. Could executing do bring about complications with snowmelt on the roof, which is just about flat? We are presuming that other parts of the residence also have crepe paper or quite possibly no insulation. We are hesitant to exchange all of the insulation at when.

SYLVIA

A. We normally take away and switch all the aged present insulation that we can. Older insulation is much inferior to what we have right now. What minimal R price it experienced when new is practically fully gone by now. When we get rid of the aged insulation and operate the new utilities, we set up closed-cell insulation the place attainable. It seems as if you can use that in the ceiling. Putting in new insulation under that almost flat roof should enable protect against ice dams in that region mainly because lousy insulation is the top trigger. But other sections of your roof will continue to be susceptible.

Q. We are elderly and need to have a walk-in shower, but we have only showers with tubs on all three flooring of our home. How lengthy do we need to go on on in the residence to make this kind of a conversion worthwhile monetarily?

LORAINE

A. You are unable to place a value on getting secure in your house, particularly in bathrooms, wherever numerous family incidents happen. We often advise consumers to consider to preserve at the very least just one tub in the home this is critical for upcoming prospective buyers with little kids. If you ended up to switch a tub in your major toilet with a stroll-in (curbless) shower, it would most probably increase the value of your property. Key baths with a shower are much far more simple and popular than a typical tub arrangement. In my brain there is no powerful explanation not to change at the very least just one of your tubs to a shower.

Mark Philben is the undertaking improvement supervisor at Charlie Allen Renovations in Cambridge. Deliver your thoughts to [email protected]. Queries are topic to editing.