This Old House Adding Attic Insulation

In a cooling climate a good blanket of attic insulation helps keep the house cooler and reduces the load on air conditioning equipment.

This old house adding attic insulation.

This old house general contractor tom silva shows affordable ways to create an energy efficient attic how to know what insulation is behind your walls if you live in an older home understanding what pads your walls is essential to keeping your family safe. Laying a second layer of fiberglass batts in the attic is an easy way to boost r values. Before you begin the installation of insulation. If you live in an older house you ll have to inspect the insulation.

Add weatherstripping around the perimeter and a sweep to the door of a walk up attic. Pull down stair or ladder. Typically houses in warm weather states should have an r 38 insulation in the attic whereas houses in cold climates should have r 49. Why the attic is key 1.

Believe it or not there are situations in a home when you should remove the old attic insulation before adding more over the existing and in this short video. Thickness must not be used as the sole factor in determining the r value of loose fill insulation particularly for attic insulation. Let s apply this knowledge to your. Use a zippered insulated tent to keep the enclosure draft free attic tent at 7 attic cover insulator 120.

Doubled vapor barriers in attic. Fiberglass insulation gets its r value from the amount of air it traps between its fibers. This old house general contractor tom silva explains the wide world of spray foam insulation how to install insulation learn how to beef up your wall s weather protection in 4 easy steps. If it s jammed too tightly into a cavity it can t trap as much air and won t be as effective.

We all know that hot air rises as cool air sinks to a low level. Attic hatch or door. If you live in a newer house you can probably get this information from the builder. These insulation levels will keep heated air from migrating out in winter.