Attic Floor Insulation

The solid base.

Attic floor insulation.

How to lay attic flooring on top of fiberglass insulation. Find your zone on the map and then use the above insulation r value chart to determine the level of insulation you need to properly insulate your attic walls floors and crawlspaces. How to insulate a finished attic. The headroom in the attic will determine how much usable floor space you have.

While local codes vary many communities will not permit the ceiling in a finished. R value is a measure of insulation s ability to resist heat traveling through it. Considering usable floor space. Even easier you can also use a prefabricated attic floor kit designed specifically to raise the attic floor above the insulation.

But if the floor is covered in plywood you can t stuff enough insulation beneath it to do the job sufficiently not even in warm climates. While you can get by cheaper by adding no insulation there are two reasons to add insulation between floor joists. The table below shows what levels of insulation are cost effective for different climates and locations in the home. These r values are a sum meaning this should be the total r value once you add up the entire depth of insulation.

Attic insulation between roof trusses. First if you never build a room in the attic the insulation in the floor area will save energy costs. Start with the attic floor. Most homes are insulated in the attic and any floors located above unfinished basements or crawl spaces.

With a finished attic insulation must help keep the attic areas comfortable. Air from rooms below will not escape rapidly into the attic. Insulation level are specified by r value. Stop using your attic for storage.

A finished attic should be insulated much like the rest of the house with insulation in the walls and ceiling. Plan to pull up the flooring and layer new. No matter how old your home is it s a good idea to see if there are ways to improve its insulation. However in some cases the joists are intentionally built strong enough for the homeowner to later build out the attic.

That means insulating the attic floor only not the walls and having vents in the roof. However if you keep the storage weight to a minimum you may be able to build a storage platform above the insulation by attaching supporting beams to the sides of the trusses. The higher the r value the better the thermal performance of the insulation. Most houses attics are built without flooring and are not designed to carry the heavy load of finished space.

Attic flooring consists of materials as basic as sheets of plywood as well as more elaborate interlocking floor systems. Because the simplest and cheapest way to insulate an attic is to add material to the floor.