Add More Insulation To Attice Floor

Do not add new insulation over old if.

Add more insulation to attice floor.

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. Adding a floor to an attic can increase storage space or create a new room. Then you ll need to build a grid like structure that can hold up the plywood flooring. And you may also qualify for a tax credit on the blown in.

Otherwise of course this issue will simply happen again and ruin your new insulation. 3 have a friend add material to the hopper. The long term payoff of insulating an attic is impressive too. 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.

Find a diagram of common air leaks here here s a quick primer on fixing draft prone spots. Check the attic walls and floors adjacent to an unheated space like a garage or basement. Before you start creating a floor for your attic you must make sure that it can handle the additional load. As such adding a floor can cause the insulation to compress thus reducing the efficiency of the fiberglass insulation.

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. Since an average attic needs 16 inches or more of insulation the insulation is always thicker than the ceiling joists or trusses. You need to evaluate your home s existing insulation before adding more. Can you add attic flooring.

But saving 1 000 or more with blown in ceiling insulation will make up for your aching back. 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. As energy star advises signs of wet insulation mean you must find the cause. If your insulation is just level with or below your floor joists i e you can easily see your joists you should add more.

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. Old insulation is moist or water stained. 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.