Adding Extra Insulation To Attic Walls

You should be able to see if there is insulation in the wall.

Adding extra insulation to attic walls.

Pull out a small amount of insulation if needed to help. Cellulose is recycled newsprint treated with a fire retardant. Blowing attic insulation isn t hard but it s dusty sweaty work. 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.

Blown in insulation overview. 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. You can add loose fill on top of fiberglass batts or blankets and vice versa. Choose fiberglass insulation batting.

Add weatherstripping around the perimeter and a sweep to the door of a walk up attic. 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. It needs to be unfaced. Use a zippered insulated tent to keep the enclosure draft free attic tent at 7 attic cover insulator 120.

Batt or rolled insulation or blown loose fill insulation fiberglass or cellulose can be installed on top of old insulation. Attic hatch or door. How much does attic insulation cost. When adding additional insulation you do not have to use the same type of insulation that currently exists in your attic.

Blowing in attic cellulose is conceivably a do it yourself job. There are various grades of insulating batting for different locations in the house so you ll need a different insulation for interior exterior attic or basement walls. As you keep adding more and more insulation you keep reducing the heat flow through the wall more and more. If you need to add insulation in your attic save big by blowing in cellulose insulation yourself.

You can do it yourself for about 500. The grade of batting will vary depending on the wall that you re insulating. Turn off the power to the outlet. 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.

Remove the outlet cover and shine a flashlight into the crack around the outlet box. If you use fiberglass over loose fill make sure the fiberglass batt has no paper or foil backing. 3 have a friend add material to the hopper. Affix rigid foam insulation to the attic side of the hatch or door.

Any existing batt or roll insulation in the attic should have the facing against the attic drywall floor or no facing at all. Insulation should be rolled out perpendicular to the joists and unfaced rolls should be used. Inspect the exterior walls by using an electrical outlet. Fiberglass is just that thin fibers of glass that trap air.