Insulating the attic floor.
How do you insulate an attic room.
In general an attic s r value should be between r 30 and r 49.
If you think you re among the 90 of us homes that are under insulated 1 performing a simple insulation inspection will help you determine your insulation needs.
The attic floor which is the ceiling of the living space below often already is insulated.
In finished attic rooms with or without dormer insulate 2a between the studs of knee walls 2b between the studs and rafters of exterior walls and roof 2c and ceilings with.
In this way you prevent the heat from the rooms below escaping to the attic rooms above.
There are two basic ways to insulate a finished attic.
Having the correct amount of attic insulation can help you maintain a comfortable temperature throughout your home and help save money on your energy bills plus prevent major issues like ice dams in the winter.
Now to do that you have to be very careful to make sure you maintain some ventilation space.
So what i want you to do is this.
If it is and you plan to provide heating and cooling to the finished attic space you need to remove.
You ll want to buy enough batting to lay at least 10 to 14 inches over the entire space.
If the air distribution is in the attic space then consider insulating the rafters to move the distribution into the conditioned space.
In this case the area behind the knee wall will be uncomfortably hot or cold.
To get the target r value from the product you chose use the number of bags your calculations showed that you needed to insulate your attic never fewer.
In particularly cold climates you might go up to r 60.
If only the living space will be insulated wrap the insulation around the room s walls and ceiling and then continue along the floor of the non living space.
If you do not use the attic much it is pointless heating this area.
At the same time the areas below the roof benefit from increased comfort both during the winter and the summer.
To insulate an attic get some batting made out of mineral wool fiberglass or recycled foam.
If your rafters are 2x8s you put in six inches of insulation.
1a attic access door.
You can t just insulate the entire rafter bay because you ll trap moisture against the underside of the roof sheathing and cause it rot out.