Attic Insulation

joe · 2014-12-18T14:16:16+00:00

I live in CT, in a 100+ year old house. We have hot summers and COLD winters. I believe that our attic floor was previously insulated, as our house winter temperatures are easily controlled. Still I cannot easily verify that insulation. nor amount/ depth - as there is hardwood flooring in place. There is no insualtion, on the attic roof insides. I would like to add insualtion, and looking for guidance. What should I buy for insualtion, which side facing the roof. Do I need to take efforts, to provide any air flow ? (There is no roof peak vent). Should I use a vapor barrier, over the new insualtion? Would there be any issue/ concern, if I then put drywall over the insualtion, to make the attic into a finished room? Thanks for the advise offered. - joe

Attic Insulation

Dec 18, 2014 22 Replies

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Tony Hwang 11 years ago

Hi, My house built in 1994 was R2000 spec'd. Even in dead winter I have to bring in outside fresh air. First thing to do is take a IR picture of the house to id. where the most heat loss is. Our local U. is working on a project using Google earth to analyze heat loss of the house with satellite thermal imaging. SW quadrant of city is covered with the program, when it is completed it will cover whole city. I am in SE quadrant and waiting to try the program myself. You just give address and Google earth focuses down on the house, takes image. Pretty neat program.

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trader_4 11 years ago

As I previosly pointed out, you don't have to replace them, you can just sister them, ie add on to them. If it's just a space issue, not a load issue, then he could just screw additional wood onto the rafter faces. Replacing them without doing a new roof at the same time, would be nearly impossible.

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joe 11 years ago

Thank too all, for the valuable advice.

I had not considered spay foam/ insulation - certtainly a viable option. Putting a wood strip. upoon each rafter, thereby providing increased depth is an easy, cheap option. As noted, that will allow for significantly more insulation..

If I use the spray foam, will there still be a need to have the noted air ducts?

Thanks a lot, to the many responders -

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