Adding Extra Insulation To Attic Walls

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 extra insulation to attic walls.

Add weatherstripping around the perimeter and a sweep to the door of a walk up attic. The blue line in all the graphs below shows the heat flow through the wall and the red columns show either the stepwise or cumulative reduction in heat flow compared to what it was with an r 2 r 11 or r 16 wall. Inspect the exterior walls by using an electrical outlet. The r value of the batt measures the thermal resistance so the higher the r value the more effectively.

Insulation should be rolled out perpendicular to the joists and unfaced rolls should be used. Remove the outlet cover and shine a flashlight into the crack around the outlet box. Most attics are insulated with blown in loose cellulose r 3 5 per inch blown in loose fiberglass r 2 5 per inch or fiberglass batts r 3 2 per inch. 3 have a friend add material to the hopper.

Any existing batt or roll insulation in the attic should have the facing against the attic drywall floor or no facing at all. Use a zippered insulated tent to keep the enclosure draft free attic tent at 7 attic cover insulator 120. Pull down stair or ladder. Pull out a small amount of insulation if needed to help.

The pros charge 1 500 to 2 000 to do a 1 200 sq ft. As you keep adding more and more insulation you keep reducing the heat flow through the wall more and more. Affix rigid foam insulation to the attic side of the hatch or door. You can add loose fill on top of fiberglass batts or blankets and vice versa.

Batt or rolled insulation or blown loose fill insulation fiberglass or cellulose can be installed on top of old insulation. It needs to be unfaced. If you use fiberglass over loose fill make sure the fiberglass batt has no paper or foil backing. If you need to add insulation in your attic save big by blowing in cellulose insulation yourself.

Blowing in attic cellulose is conceivably a do it yourself job. Attic hatch or door. Blown in insulation overview. You should be able to see if there is insulation in the wall.

Fiberglass is just that thin fibers of glass that trap air. How much does attic insulation cost. Cellulose is recycled newsprint treated with a fire retardant. When adding additional insulation you do not have to use the same type of insulation that currently exists in your attic.

Choose fiberglass insulation batting. With boric acid added for fire resistance shredded recycled telephone books tax forms and newspapers all contribute to making safe cellulose insulation blown in cellulose is injected into the wall cavities by a series of holes drilled into either the inside or outside of the walls. You can do it yourself for about 500. Blowing attic insulation isn t hard but it s dusty sweaty work.