Insulate Attic Without Removing Flooring

Insulating the attic and roof.

Insulate attic without removing flooring.

Attic insulation between roof trusses. The attic floor which is the ceiling of the living space below often already is insulated. If it is and you plan to provide heating and cooling to the finished attic space you need to remove. Stop using your attic for storage.

We have a ridge vent that runs the length of the house and also installed baffles in the attic for more airflow. Virtually any attic floor can be brought up to code it s just a matter of how much. Roughly a quarter of the average home s heat is lost through the roof. 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.

I know we will need to remove the old insulation which was only r 19 maybe and replace it. Start with the attic floor. With a finished attic insulation must help keep the attic areas comfortable. 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.

How to insulate a finished attic. It may seem counterintuitive but while attic insulation is critical ventilation of the attic is equally important. Laying devil s advocate the case for removing the insulation on the attic floor aka extraction is that leaving the insulation on the attic floor will work against the spray foam insulation on the roof deck. Plan to pull up the flooring and layer new.

If your existing attic flooring isn t adequate for conversion to a living space all is not lost. A finished attic should be insulated much like the rest of the house with insulation in the walls and ceiling. Upon inspection of the attic insulation we noticed that the underside was indeed wet. Without ventilation moisture can accumulate and condense eventually rotting.

Even easier you can also use a prefabricated attic floor kit designed specifically to raise the attic floor above the insulation. Rather than insulating the whole home and potentially causing problems like excess humidity you can properly seal the attic of an old house. Without removing the flooring you have the option of blowing loose fill insulation fiberglass or cellulose fiber over the top of the floor. Some common insulation methods can actually cause long term damage.

That means insulating the attic floor only not the walls and having vents in the roof.