Add More Insulation To Attice Floor

A common misconception is that it takes little more than the installation of some decking over the attic joists to ready an attic for move in.

Add more insulation to attice floor.

Whether you live in a warm weather state as i do or in a cooler northern climate it s hard to stay comfortable and keep your energy bills in check if you don t have adequate insulation in the attic. The structural elements are usually exposed in these areas which makes it easy to see what type of insulation you have and to measure its depth or thickness inches. As energy star advises signs of wet insulation mean you must find the cause. Gaps in the attic or between the lower floors and the attic will let heated or cooled air escape to the great unconditioned outdoors making any insulation you add essentially useless.

You need to evaluate your home s existing insulation before adding more. If you cannot see any of the floor joists because the insulation. You could see your energy bills go down by as much as 15 to 25 percent depending on your climate and existing levels of insulation. Check the attic walls and floors adjacent to an unheated space like a garage or basement.

Old insulation is moist or water stained. Adding a floor to an attic can increase storage space or create a new room. The long term payoff of insulating an attic is impressive too. But saving 1 000 or more with blown in ceiling insulation will make up for your aching back.

As such adding a floor can cause the insulation to compress thus reducing the efficiency of the fiberglass insulation. Since an average attic needs 16 inches or more of insulation the insulation is always thicker than the ceiling joists or trusses. Do not add new insulation over old if. To install fiberglass batts over existing insulation lay the batts perpendicular to the joists so they do not compress the insulation below.

Before you start creating a floor for your attic you must make sure that it can handle the additional load. Block all vents in the attic floor with baffles making sure to extend the baffles at least four inches above the planned thickness of your insulation. No matter what kind of insulation you currently have in your attic one quick way to determine if you need more is to look across the span of your attic. Find a diagram of common air leaks here here s a quick primer on fixing draft prone spots.

Otherwise of course this issue will simply happen again and ruin your new insulation. 3 have a friend add material to the hopper. And you may also qualify for a tax credit on the blown in.