Attic Insulation To Keep Cool

Attic hatch or door.

Attic insulation to keep cool.

Many people only think of insulation as something you need in the winter to keep your home warm. Powered attic ventilators are the worst way to try to keep your attic cool. In an unfinished attic the goal of insulation is to keep the rooms below cool in summer and warm in winter. Affix rigid foam insulation to the attic side of the hatch or door.

Instead of warm air entering your home rising to the top and escaping to a cooler environment the outdoor heat goes out of its way to enter your cool air conditioned house. But insulation is also there to keep you comfortable in summer. It basically seeks out cool zones to fill so if that zone is lower than the source of the heat the warmer air will. To ensure that the attic fan is working properly you need to make sure that your attic is sealed up tight where it touches the ceiling of the top floor.

So it s time to pay close attention to what s happening up there. Keep your garage warm in winter and cool in the summer by installing insulation on the door. That means insulating the attic floor only not the walls and having vents in the roof. In other words use temperature controlled or timer d attic fans to keep your attic from getting too ridiculously hot.

Installation tips and best practices. How to insulate a finished attic. Attack your hottest spots with low energy cooling. This will help keep the hot attic air from heating your living space.

Pull down stair or ladder. Adding an attic fan can improve the airflow in your attic to keep it cool. With a finished attic insulation must help keep the attic areas comfortable. Blown insulation in attics.

Install attic insulation with an r factor of at least 19. To understand how attic insulation helps keep your home cool in the summer months you first have to be aware of the ways a poorly insulated attic can make your house hot. Use a zippered insulated tent to keep the enclosure draft free attic tent at 7 attic cover insulator 120. Add weatherstripping around the perimeter and a sweep to the door of a walk up attic.

Proper attic insulation is the best way to prevent heat loss in the winter and retain cool air in the summer. They ve been well discussed here and other places but briefly they re not cost effective don t deal with the problem where it starts are using convection to solve a radiant heat problem and can even be dangerous by backdrafting combustion appliances and. An attic warmed by the heat of the summer sun beating down on your roof is doing both you and the planet a disservice. When it s hot outside the stack effect operates in reverse.