insulating above a suspended ceiling

[Scot]

What is the reccomended way to insulate above a suspended ceiling?

Will laying the insulation on top of it be okay?

[willshak]

On 12/8/2004 12:17 PM US(ET), Scot took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

Do it the right way. Stapled between joists. What if you have to get above the ceiling to route new wire, cable, pipe, or to repair something, etc. It will be harder pushing the tiles around while insulation is laying on them, and then you have to pull the insulation down along the path of the wire, pipe, etc.

[Robert Allison]

Yes, that is the recommended method. Batt insulation works great.

[Scot]

stapling between the joists will not work well in this situation. the roof joists are at least 10 feet higher than where the ceiling will be. that being said, cold air from the rest of the attic would just come across the ceiling tiles.

[Scot]

sorry, that last post was in response to willshak's posting.

thanks Robert, it looks like S>>

[bill a]

I'm just doing the same thing. At HD, they have R13 23.5" wide faced insulation in bundles of precuts at

94". These are pretty handy because one cut in the middle gives two pieces, the width is OK, and the facing allows them to slide across the ceiling tile nicely. These install very quickly, but they are slightly undersized, so the adjacent batts aren't squeezed into each other. I was willing to give up some R value for easier install and also later if you need to lift a tile up. Also, you can order precut 2 X 4 from specialty insulation companies (more $, of course) in R13 up to R30. The really thick stuff is a bit too heavy for cheaper ceiling tile, though. They would probably sag after a while. These are full dimension, so if you lift a tile later for access, you may not be able to get the insulation back in place. Bill