Insulation for attics - anyone done spray foam yourself?

What’s not cutting it? Walls, ceiling, subfloor? Is the AC sized for that load?

Spray foam on the rafters is really expensive and didn’t warrant the upgrade when I was building. Fiberglass seems to work fine for me in South LA.

DIY with plenty of access would be pretty easy to do. If you’re trying to do a post-construction DIY, that just seems like it would be miserable.

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We’ve had fiberglass foam blown-in twice now, and it’s still unbearable on our top floor in the afternoons. You can literally feel it getting hotter as you walk up the stairs, and same goes for reaching for the ceiling fan cord. The closer you get towards the ceiling/attic, the more heat you can feel. Just trying to think of any alternative, since the foam (which we have plenty of) isn’t doing the trick

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dunno how you are going to do spray foam your self. For one, you need to have your ridge vent or whirly birds changed to not have them. then any bathroom vents that go into attic, need to be changed to run through roof or ridge.

then you are not going to have a spray rig that can due it. It must have heated lines to do it correctly.

try making sure the upstairs is sealed off from the attic properly. You also need to check ductwork and make sure it is installed properly and insulated properly.

lastly and more expensive options are attic fan(Get solar powered if you can), radiant barriar, and lastely a mini split.

here is an article talking about sealing of the attic

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Improve the Air Sealing, Insulation, and Ventilation of the Attic
When it comes to a home’s energy efficiency, attics need to be the first place that you look. So much of a home’s temperature control is reliant on the quality of the attic’s sealing, insulation, and ventilation.

When any one of these three components is off, the others suffer, and it creates a less comfortable and more costly home environment.

One of the biggest improvements comes from sealing and insulating the attic access, one of the biggest sources of air leakage in the home. When the attic and attic access are not properly sealed and insulated, the hot air coming in through the roof can leak into the lower floors of the home. Combine this with the hot air rising from the lower floors, and you’re looking at a perfect recipe for uncomfortable upstairs environments. Other common areas for air leaks are recessed lighting and ductwork in the attic. Click here to check out some of the best air sealing techniques.

Ideally, the heat that transfers through the roof should never make it past the attic. This is where innovative solutions like multi-layer insulation and solar attic fans can provide immense value. These products, in conjunction with proper air sealing techniques, prevent heat from moving into the upstairs living space by reflecting it back towards its source, and exhausting it out of the home entirely. Through these methods, homeowners can take their entire upstairs’ comfort to a new level.

Attics are also prime candidates for lackluster ventilation systems.

When attic ventilation is sub-par, it makes it difficult for equilibrium to be reached across the home’s indoor rooms. Homes can also have a few different kinds of ventilation systems in play. Each home’s ventilation system is a bit different, but a qualified healthy home inspection professional will be able to determine how effective each home’s ventilation is performing.

When the attic is properly sealed, insulated, and ventilated, you can create a secure and controlled attic environment. This allows for a more energy efficient attic, which in turn allows for the lower floors to be more controllable.

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Is your roof vented by either ridge vents or roof turbines(whirly birds)? If not get some installed ASAP.

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Also, you need to see if you have enough air vents on the eves of the house. For a Whirly bird to work properly, there must be enough vents to allow air flow to cool you attic.

Former spray foam company owner here: don’t do it yourself. The do it yourself Kits are crappy product & are pretty expensive actually. Get a good company to install. Must be a sealed attic so venting will be sealed. Works awesome! I’m no longer in that Business but spray foam every house I build & renovate.

have you considered capping the fiberglass with blown cellulose? that should be an easy DIY project with high returns.

The cellulose cap will actually improve the R value of the fiberglass in addition to more R value from the cellulose layer itself. It is a double whammy.

Exactly. Sounds as if the home owners attic lacks ventilation thus allowing the transfer of heat back downward towards into the house, Instead of heat rising and leaving the attic through its roof/attic vents.

Or it could be something as simple as a single system for two floors and nobody is adjusting the dampers to balance the system.