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.

This old house adding attic insulation. 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. These insulation levels will keep heated air from migrating out in winter. If you live in an older house you ll have to inspect the insulation.

How to insulate an old house. Affix rigid foam insulation to the attic side of the hatch or door. Doubled vapor barriers in attic. Typically houses in warm weather states should have an r 38 insulation in the attic whereas houses in cold climates should have r 49.

Before you begin the installation of insulation. Pull down stair or ladder. If it s jammed too tightly into a cavity it can t trap as much air and won t be as effective. Why the attic is key 1.

Let s apply this knowledge to your. We all know that hot air rises as cool air sinks to a low level. Fill the gaps your insulated attic isn t necessarily a sealed attic. If you live in a newer house you can probably get this information from the builder.

In a cooling climate a good blanket of attic insulation helps keep the house cooler and reduces the load on air conditioning equipment. Fiberglass insulation gets its r value from the amount of air it traps between its fibers. Add weatherstripping around the perimeter and a sweep to the door of a walk up attic. Laying a second layer of fiberglass batts in the attic is an easy way to boost r values.