Attic Insulation Tips Diy

In attics vapor barrier on insulation should face down toward the living space.

Attic insulation tips diy.

For most of us installing spray foam insulation in their attic is just not a diy project and it is too costly for your average homeowner. Cut slits in. How to insulate a finished attic. Loose fill or batt the common term for blanket insulation.

Blanket insulation is available as batts or rolls and is the easiest diy. Heat has a natural inclination to both rise and migrate to colder areas. With a finished attic insulation must help keep the attic areas comfortable. However blowing insulation into an attic can be a diy task.

When you reach a cross beam cut the insulation flush with the beam then start again on the other side working in from the eaves. It doesn t require any special skills but will require you to crouch under low sloping attic rafters in order to distribute the. That means insulating the attic floor only not the walls and having vents in the roof. To cut the insulation use a long sharp knife with a serrated edge such as a bread knife.

If you have the money to pay for spray foam in your attic then you may want to stop reading now and go get that done. How much does attic insulation cost. If it is installed incorrectly with the vapor barrier facing up then the insulation will trap moisture causing possible water problems. Check the attic to make sure the insulation is installed properly.

You can track down bypasses by lifting existing attic insulation and checking for dark patches of moisture or dust. You can do it yourself for about 500. Statistics show that 85 percent of a house s heat loss is straight up through the attic space. Blown in insulation overview.

Either way the house is probably wasting energy and the homeowners money. If you need to add insulation in your attic save big by blowing in cellulose insulation yourself. Houses built before the energy crunch in the early 70s might just have a little bit of fiberglass insulation in the attic or empty cavities between the joists. Both can be added to uninsulated attics or layered over existing material.

Sandwich the insulation between two boards and using the top board as a guide run the knife along the edge for a straight cut. The pros charge 1 500 to 2 000 to do a 1 200 sq ft. Combine these two tendencies and you can see why air bypasses can reduce the effectiveness of attic insulation by 30 to 70 percent. A finished attic should be insulated much like the rest of the house with insulation in the walls and ceiling.