RE-INSULATing an attic - remove or not remove old?

[DogwoodTales]

I don't have a picture, but something like this. Mine is not even this nice. Instead of foam walls, I used additional 2x framing around my opening. That makes getting into and out of the attic a little harder because it's almost a foot tall. But like your comment said, the walls are going to take a lot of abuse from getting in and out. The 2x framing is attached to the joists and they're not going anywhere. I can get 2" extruded foam scraps at work so I saved 2 pieces and doubled them up for a 4" lid/ cover. I copied this idea from a magazine or somewhere. Before, I had nothing over the stairs. I did this all at once so I can't say for sure how much a difference the cover makes, but seemed worth it to me to do this little extra to prevent basically just 1/4" plywood between my ceiling and roof.

Seems to me that if the short wall on the landing was attached to the lid, then it could be lifted out of the way with the lid to prevent it from being damaged whilst getting in/out of the attic.

[Snipe Hunter]

Alongside my previous thread about ridge venting there is the issue of re-insulating the attic. 
The existing insulation is old and matted, thus little R value - as is indicated by the fact that when it's 90+ outside here in SE Indiana my ceiling is also 90+ degrees (by an infrared thermometer, assuming the emissivity is within proper range) whilst the floor is 70 degrees.
According to the home inspection last year he doesn't think the insulation contains asbestos, but we didn't have it tested either.

Question-
I'm finding two schools of thought, so to speak, on the subject of removing the old insulation before adding more  - one is to remove it and the other is to leave it.
I find both to be fairly compelling in their pros and cons. I'm leaning towards just leaving it only because it's less work, but what would you do/recommend?


On that note, I also read that since the existing insulation has a paper face that additional insulation (on top of the old) should be unfaced. Does that sound right?
Lastly, I'm wondering that if I leave the old insulation should I run the new rolls of insulation between the joists or cross over the joists?
At the moment I'm not considering doing blown in insulation. One reason is because the new vented soffit won't be don't done for quite a while (due to contractor availability) and I need to get this attic re-insulated asap (as soon as it cools down a bit) and I'm thinking it will be exponentially easier to slide baffles up into the eaves from the outside of the house when the old soffit is taken out rather than me trying to crawl under a 4/12 pitch to get the baffle back in there from inside the attic. So with rolled fiberglass I can keep the insulation from blocking up the eaves whereas with blown-in insulation I won't be able to keep it out.

If you can show me a pic of the insulation, I could give you pretty accurate odds whether it contains asbestos or not.
Asbestos will usually look like vermiculite because it's mixed with vermiculite. It won't have a paper face. It came in bags and it was dumped in the attic like mulch. 100% asbestos was also used to a lesser degree and it can look a little like cellulose but smaller pieces. Although I've never seen it, ridged asbestos boards were also used. Maybe 20" wide, 4' long and a couple inches thick.

Asbestos/Vermiculite:

[Snipe Hunter]

BTW:
Asbestos insulation isn't a big health issue unless you are creating airborne dust with it. Dust will kick up if it's disturbed.. like when you are adding insulation over it. I wouldn't blow insulation in. Too much dust in the air. If I were doing it, I'd wait till it cools down some and wear a respirator, long sleeves and long pants. Tape the cuffs tight and install R-30 or R-38 batts.

[DogwoodTales]

If you can show me a pic of the insulation, I could give you pretty accurate odds whether it contains asbestos or not.
Asbestos will usually look like vermiculite because it's mixed with vermiculite. It won't have a paper face. It came in bags and it was dumped in the attic like mulch. 100% asbestos was also used to a lesser degree and it can look a little like cellulose but smaller pieces. Although I've never seen it, ridged asbestos boards were also used. Maybe 20" wide, 4' long and a couple inches thick.

Asbestos/Vermiculite: 

Snipe - Going by your description I would say I do not have asbestos insulation. Last year the home inspector poked around it for signs if anything white that might indicate the presence of asbestos and he didn't find any.
What is there looks very much to me like very old fiberglass and it has a paper face. I've been in that attic a lot, with a respirator of course when I was doing anything that would really disturb the insulation or at least an N-95 mask if I was just going up there to look at something.

Following this thread, I will be using R30 unfaced fiberglass insulation across the joists. I think I should be able to get it up to the eaves without blocking the ventilation. Eventually my contractor will get around to replacing the partially vented soffit with all vented soffit and probably install baffles to ensure the insulation does not ever get in the way.

Thanks to all for your responses!

[Snipe Hunter]

Snipe - Going by your description I would say I do not have asbestos insulation. Last year the home inspector poked around it for signs if anything white that might indicate the presence of asbestos and he didn't find any.

I have never seen white asbestos attic insulation (aside from asbestos board insulation and faces pipe insulation. It's usually mixed with vermiculite but I have seen it in loose rock-wool. Colors to look for: light brown/beige (similar to cellulose insulation) or a silvery grey and never craft faced. I have seen white asbestos pipe insulation and it's always wrapped in paper. Pure asbestos insulation would be too difficult to work with because it's like a fine fiber. It needs to be mixed with something to give it some sort of mass so it can be installed and leveled. Otherwise it's like working with dust bunnies, it just drifts all over the place.