Attic Floor Insulation

With a finished attic insulation must help keep the attic areas comfortable.

Attic floor insulation.

The ceiling load may include items like drywall ducts recessed lights bathroom fans and attic insulation. The table below shows what levels of insulation are cost effective for different climates and locations in the home. How to lay attic flooring on top of fiberglass insulation. Attic flooring consists of materials as basic as sheets of plywood as well as more elaborate interlocking floor systems.

The headroom in the attic will determine how much usable floor space you have. R value is a measure of insulation s ability to resist heat traveling through it. First if you never build a room in the attic the insulation in the floor area will save energy costs. Considering usable floor space.

How to insulate a finished attic. Don t skip the insulation in the floor. Most homes are insulated in the attic and any floors located above unfinished basements or crawl spaces. Stop using your attic for storage.

But if the floor is covered in plywood you can t stuff enough insulation beneath it to do the job sufficiently not even in warm climates. No matter how old your home is it s a good idea to see if there are ways to improve its insulation. That means insulating the attic floor only not the walls and having vents in the roof. Air from rooms below will not escape rapidly into the attic.

The higher the r value the better the thermal performance of the insulation. Attic insulation between roof trusses. Plan to pull up the flooring and layer new. The solid base.

Even easier you can also use a prefabricated attic floor kit designed specifically to raise the attic floor above the insulation. However if you keep the storage weight to a minimum you may be able to build a storage platform above the insulation by attaching supporting beams to the sides of the trusses. Most houses attics are built without flooring and are not designed to carry the heavy load of finished space. Insulation level are specified by r value.

The most effective places to add insulation to older homes are exterior walls attics basements and crawl spaces. Start with the attic floor. Find your zone on the map and then use the above insulation r value chart to determine the level of insulation you need to properly insulate your attic walls floors and crawlspaces. While you can get by cheaper by adding no insulation there are two reasons to add insulation between floor joists.

However in some cases the joists are intentionally built strong enough for the homeowner to later build out the attic. These r values are a sum meaning this should be the total r value once you add up the entire depth of insulation.