Hi, In the attic, I would go with cellulose. Loose fill FG under cold conditions develops convection currents within the insulation that can reduce its effective R value by half. See this ORNL test of loose fill cells and FG: http://www.homeenergy.org/archive/hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/92/920510.html For doing walls, there is a practice with cellulose that most installers call dense packing. This is real and beneficial. They put the insulation in at a somewhat higher density which makes it fill better and eliminates any possibility of settling over time. Cellulose does offer some resistance to air flow (more so that other loose fills, but not as much as foam in place), but not sure what the issue with asbestos siding would be? Before adding more loose fill to the attic, you should seal up any penetrations from below (wires, plumbing, light fixtures, ...) -- this is a major heat loss on most homes. And, if you have ducts running through the attic, seal all the joints with duct mastic, and insulate the ducts if they are not already. These things are a lot harder to do after you add a couple feet of loose fill :) Great book on insulating: "Insulate and Weatherize", Harley. Gary Here is a link that might be useful: Loose fill insulation

We had asbestos siding on our previous house. I wanted to take it all off, but we couldn't afford to. So we had it removed from just the front of the house, revealing original clapboard and trim in excellent condition. Once the whole house had a fresh coat of paint, you really didn't notice that the sides and back of the house had different siding than the front. And the restored front looked fantastic. The asbestos siding held paint really well. The painters just powerwashed it, primed it, gave it two good coats. That was ten years ago, and it still looks good.

#1...Make SURE that house is clean and dry b4 new work starts!! * Under many Reds, I'd use a gray primer. * Then...2 full coats of paint. #2...Call around to your paint-stores. * Reds fade the fastest. * Some paint-brands have colorants for Exterior only, in the bright shades like Red & Yellow. They will still fade though...although @ a slower rate...!! DO NOT USE OIL!!! > You can use a Oil primer, but use Latex for your paint. > Use a Satin (or a low-sheen Eggshell if avail.) for main body. Flats just hold dirt. NO WAY would I use Flat for main house. > Oils are often prone to mildew-problems in humid areas. Don't even consider it... Faron

pkpk23, do you have any photos of what you're talking about? I've never heard of using your hands to press a pattern! ... assuming it is a pattern and not just a random hand print here and there. lol! Also really wondering if you used ordinary joint compound or the quick-setting stuff you have to mix yourself? I've worked with ordinary joint compound since I was a kid, but have never dealt with mixing my own or the quick-setting version. I've got two ceilings that came with a swirl pattern that then apparently had sand (or whatever they use for 'popcorn') thrown on top of that... it's very dense and clumpy in some spots, sparse in others, unevenly textured, and looks like an overall bad job was done to create it. I've tried scraping the worst spots several times over the years but really cannot budge it because it's been painted over so many times, I guess, so I've tried painting more to "fill in" but that doesn't work. I've been thinking of doing a skim coat on those ceilings using ordinary joint compound and wonder if it really is that much different from the quick-set stuff. Anything would look better than it looks now. :p Last year I primed those ceilings thinking I'd then try a skim coat of JC, but panicked and backed off after reading that I should only use quick-set JC. :p