A lot depends on how long you intend to live there. Even if it's a couple years, I would not go with R30 minimum. Not only will you save some on energy, but when you go to sell, it looks better on inspection. Another factor to consider, in addition to $$ of energy, is that the higher insulation can help keep the upstairs feeling cool during summer in TX, especially if you have marginal cooling upstairs to begin with. For the small diff in price you're talking about, and with energy prices likely to be higher in the future, I'd go with the R49. But, I'd make sure to find out how many inches it will be first, so you know if you got what you paid for.
: Thank you everyone for the quick replies. To address your questions...
The quotes for R-30 and R-38 were for blown-in fiberglass (the "non-itchy", "doesn't catch on your clothes"-kind).
The quote for the R-49 was from a different company. Although I don't know the number of inches, it was written on the estimate as "Climate Pro Blown Insulation". Is this a brand name?
If you can't tell, I don't really know much about the material-type--as most of my descriptions are vague. Sorry 'bout that!
What's a good amount of inches of R-49 to have blown-in?
It should also be noted that we live in a single story house (no upstairs to worry about).
Finally, there's a chance we could sell the house sometime in the middle of summer, due to a (potential) career change.
Then again, with today's economy, we might just stay put for a while.
The R-49 is $500 more than the lowest bid from the other contractor. His R-30 bid is part of a government subsidy program here in Texas. (normally, he'd charge about $450 for R-30, but the program knocks the price down to $200)
I've read that R-type doesn't matter in Texas as much. Or that R-38/R-49 do more for cold weather areas than hot climates.
I'm trying to learn on the fly- but it seems there's so much contradicting information out there!
Thanks again, everyone...
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Don;t know, but if it is, you can probably find it by googling a bit.
It's not that you get X inches of R49 blown in. It's the number of inches that determine the R value. Using the same material, you could get any R value. Which is why I suggested you nail down what they are using and how many inches you're getting.
One things for sure, you're not going to recover the $500 diff in cost in 6 months, or even a couple years. I would think there might be some calculators online to help guestimate. Try googling for "insulation savings calculator"
I'd check for state websites for info on how this program works. Usually, they are trying to encourage people to put in more than the minimum. It would be stupid for the govt to have a program where they just give a credit towards the minimum and you get nothing if you do better. But then from what I've seen lately, nothing would surprise me.
There is some truth to the cold weather part. Heat loss is proportional to the temp difference. So, if you're keeping it at 70 inside, if it get's to 100 outside, that's a delta of 30. I it gets down to 20, that's a delta of 50. So, there are more areas of the US where the heat loss in winter is going to be the greater concern.
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