If your attic has no insulation, there are two attic insulation methods which you can do. You can either choose the faced insulation (the facing goes toward the heated area, against the attic floor) or install a vapor barrier (available in rolls of plastic from hardware shops) before laying the insulation in place.

The steps in installing the vapor barrier are easy jobs. You can lay the plastic vapor barrier (usually 6-millimeter) between the joists, adding a couple of staples at each end of the plastic to tack it while you are laying the insulation. Don’t worry about stapling it down really thoroughly, because gravity and the weight of the insulation will hold the vapor barrier in place.

Next comes the fun part of attic insulation. There are two types of attic insulation which you can apply between the joists. The first type is loose-fill insulation. In this case, you can choose bags of loose-fill insulation that you can pour between and over the joists. Use a rake to spread the loose-fill insulation evenly.

The second type of attic insulation is laying insulation batts between the joists, for example fiberglass batts. Installing fiberglass batts between the attic joists has never been easier. All you need to do is to roll the fiberglass batts into place between the joists. Don’t pack them too tightly as the air between their layers is an essential part of their insulation ability.

Before laying the insulation batts, you should measure the space between the joists so that you purchase the correct batt width. This will save you from having to cut the batts to fit between the joists and will help you avoid squeezing the batts too tight between the joists. Squeezing the insulation batts tightly will reduce their insulation ability.

Once you got the bags of lose-fill insulation or fiberglass batts, carry them up to the attic intact. Do not attempt to open them beforehand. They are tightly compressed, so they are much easier to handle when they are still closed. Open them one at a time, as needed, once they are in the attic.

When you start laying your insulation, work from the walls toward the center of the attic and start at the spot furthest away from the attic hatch. It’s like painting a room where you work your way toward the exit.

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Installing Attic Insulation Page1

Installing Attic Insulation Page3

Installing attic insulation on your own is not that difficult of a task. This article will lay out all the necessary steps and guidelines in attic insulation. Therefore, read on to find out how attic insulation (using loose-fill or fiberglass batts) are being done.

Before installing the insulation in the attic, you are advised to do some inspection around the attic. Most attics are unheated and unfinished, meaning the attic has no floor and it’s just joists and ceiling from the room below.

For inspection tips, you might want to check out the article which lays out the steps and precautions that you might want to take while inspecting your attic. You can follow the link below for the respective article.

Attic Insulation and Ventilation Inspection Page1

Attic insulation and attic ventilation cannot work without one another in the attic. The important thing is the ventilation has to be coming from vents, not from gaps around wiring or chimneys. Therefore, before installing attic insulation, you are encouraged to check for such gaps. If such gaps exist, what you can do is you can caulk around these gaps to cut drafts and to prevent insects, birds and animals from entering through these gaps.

To make long story short, the first thing that you do when you are up at the attic is, inspect the attic to see if there is any existing insulation around. If your attic already has some insulation in place between the ceiling joists, you will need to use the unfaced insulation batts. It’s very common some insulation batts come with a facing on one side that provides a vapor barrier. The unfaced insulation batts are the type that doesn’t have vapor barrier.

If there is already insulation in place in the attic, great! The next step is to inspect the existing attic insulation whether it is the faced type (with vapor barrier). Check that the vapor barrier is facing the right way . In this case, the vapor barrier has to be facing down, toward the heated house. If it’s not facing the right direction, you will need to flip it over so that the vapor barrier is installed properly. You can run a utility knife over it to break the existing insulation seal so that you can flip it over.

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Installing Attic Insulation Page2

Before determining how insulation works, we should first understand how heat is conducted. This is crucial in understanding how insulation works and what you can do to make your house more energy efficient by figuring out which part of your house requires insulation.

Heat is a form of energy. Therefore, heat cannot be destroyed but it can convert to another form of energy. With that being said, heat in a heated area can be transferred to a cool area by being absorbed by the air molecule in the cool area as a form energy transfer so that both areas will reach equilibrium. Another way of saying this is heat flows from a warmer to a cooler space just like water flows from a higher ground to a lower ground.

Why heat transfer from a heated area to a cooler area you may ask. The reason is the air molecule in the heated area has more energy compared to the air molecule in a cool area. This is the same case as water flows from high to low as water in higher ground has more energy. Therefore, heat flows from heated area to cooler area as a form of energy transfer so that both places will reach equilibrium which means both areas will have the same level of energy. When that happens, heat flow will stop.

Heat is conducted in the following ways: Convection, Conduction and Radiation. Therefore by putting a stop to these ways in which heat can transfer, you are basically insulating against the heat flow.

In your house, during winter time, the heat moves directly from all heated living spaces to the outdoors and to adjacent unheated attics, garage, basement and wherever there is a difference in temperature. On the other hand, heat transfer from outdoors to the interior of your house. To make sure your house is comfortable to live, heat lost in the winter must be replaced by your heating system and the heat gained in summer must be removed by your air-conditioner.

Therefore, in order to make your heating or cooling systems do less work which in return save your energy bills, you can put a stop or at least try to reduce the heat flow to a minimal level. And insulation is the method which can be applied to efficiently reduce the heat flow. Insulation works by giving resistance to heat flow just like you apply a resistance to water flow from higher ground to lower ground.

Insulation materials such as batts, blankets, loose fill and low-density foams all works by limiting air flow. These materials may be more familiarly referred as fiberglass, cellulose, polyicynene and expanded polystyrene. A still air is an effective insulator because it eliminates convection and reduces energy conduction to minimal level. Some foams such as polyisocyanurate, polyurethane, and extruded polystyrene, are filled with special gases that provide additional resistance to heat flow.

Please note that the ability of insulation material to limit air flow should not be confused with “air sealing”. The insulation reduces air movement only within the space it occupies. It will not reduce air movement through other cracks between building parts.

Another form of heat flow is through radiation. One way to stop the heat flow through radiation is by applying reflective insulation. Reflective insulation works by reducing the amount of energy that travels in the form of radiation. Some forms of reflective insulation also divide a space up into small regions to reduce air movement, or convection, but not to the same extent as batts, blankets, loose-fill, and foam.

The Energy Conservation Construction Code is to provide a construction standard that will minimize energy consumption in a building while maintaining the necessary comfort factors. With that being said, many states have enacted an energy conservation construction code to supplement their building code. The conservation code applies to new construction, renovation and additions to buildings. The code is not retroactive, meaning it does not apply to buildings constructed prior to its enactment.

Being a good citizen yourself, you might want to check with the local building department to determine whether there is an energy conservation construction code in your state and if so, whether it was in effect prior to the construction of the house you are planning to buy.

If you are considering buying an existing house, there is a high chance that the house is not as energy efficient as it could be. Although the energy-deficient items are usually found during a pre-purchase home inspection, they are often not upgraded until the buyer take possession of the house. Consequently, after you move into the house, you should perform an energy audit to bring back into focus those items that are needed for conservation improvements.

An energy-efficient house is not only helping you in reducing your utility bills, it also shows you as a good citizen who are concerned about the environment. The actually dollar saving will of course depend on the gas, oil and electricity rates in your area; the climate and the extent to which your house is already energy efficient.

You can often determine the projected savings and payback period for the cost involved in making your home energy efficient by contacting your local utility company. For a nominal fee, many utility companies will analyze your energy-conserving improvements, taking into account current and projected energy costs, and will estimate your dollar savings per year.

In conclusion, before doing any energy conserving work such as home insulation, check with your local building department for the energy conservation construction code first to determine what are the requirements for you home. In addition, check with the local utility company to get an energy audit for your home to estimate how extent your home energy conservation is. With that being said, the initial cost for making your home energy efficient might be costly in the first place, but over time, the return on investment will surely pay back in terms of reduced utility bills.

Last but not least, we will all appreciate you for making our mother earth a cleaner and livable place!

Your attic may have a combination of vents, including soffit vents in the underside of the area where the roof overhangs the house walls, gable vents that are up in the peak of the house wall just under the roof, ridge vents that run along the peak of the roof, or roof vents cut into the roof itself. All of these vents should be kept clear. Insulation, for example shouldn’t cover soffit vents. You should also make sure these vents doesn’t pose an entry point for insects, birds and other animals.

As for ventilation, you need to make sure there is about 1 square foot of venting for every 300 square feet of attic floor space, assuming there is a vapor barrier in place. If there is no vapor barriers, aim for 1 square foot of ventilation for every 150 of square feet of attic space. Keep in mind that power or wind-assisted roof vents will reduce the ventilation square footage needed.

In cold climates, vapor barriers (usually sturdy 6-milimeter plastic films) should be placed against the warm side of the house, for example the attic floor. The insulation itself should be adequate for your climate . Check with your local building codes, but look for a total attic R-value of about R38 for most areas. It should also be dry and evenly distributed. Insulation should be kept at least 3 inches away from any heat-producing items such as electrical or light fixtures.

Although attics can seem like a great place to store unused items, they are not created for such purpose. If your attics are unfinished and unheated or uncooled, they are exposed to temperature extremes and to water damage from roof leaks. All of these can prematurely deteriorate paper and wood items. Stacks or boxes of paper and clothes are perfect homes for unwelcome guests such as mice. Flammable or explosive items such as pressurized cans or paint thinners may be a fire risk when exposed to extreme heat. They should never be stored in the attic.

If you have an attic that has sufficient overhead clearance to be turned into usable space, such as a playroom, talk to your county or municipal about your building codes. These will provide guidelines for insulating the attic and for providing safe access to and from it. This is essential to ensure that people especially children can evacuate the attic in case of fire. Get help from a qualified contractor for the renovation itself. Make sure the contractor has done attic work before to ensure that the renovation doesn’t create additional insulation or ventilation problems.

In short, attic insulation and ventilation go hands in hands. One will not work without the other. Therefore, inspecting both attic insulation and ventilation are necessary to prevent major problem from occurring which could potentially cost you thousand of dollars of repair cost, let alone the time to fix it.

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Attic insulation and ventilation inspection page1

Inspecting attic insulation and attic ventilation is an essential task. If you suspect there is a problem in the attic, for example a water leak coming from condensation or from roofs or chimney leaks, you should take no delay by going up to the attic to inspect it. Fixing it before it turns into a bigger problem can save you a lot of cleanup task, cost and time.

While some room-like attics have a proper stairway up to them, many attics have only an access panel. For the latter style, determine whether you have a safe way of climbing up through the panel. Some might incorporate a pull-down stairway. If this is the case, make sure the stairway is sturdy and the pull-down mechanism is working smoothly. If there is no pull-down stairway, then a ladder is your best option of climbing up to the attic. But make sure the ladder reaches all the way up to the access panel. A shorter ladder will force you to balance on its upper steps while reaching up to open or close an attic hatch panel. This is certainly not a good idea to practice.

Once you have reached the attic, check on its surrounding and structure. If your attic doesn’t have a floor surface, just joist for example, step only on the joists. Stepping between the joists puts your weight on the wallboard or plaster ceiling of the room below, which can easily give way. To make your work in the attic easier, some tips here which you can apply are you can lay a sheet of plywood over the joists. By doing this, you can step your feet on the sheet of plywood which offers you more flexibilities in moving around.

Some of the structures you may see in the attics are plumbing vent stacks, electrical wiring, chimney flues and exhaust ducts running through the attic. You should inspect them to make sure they are in good shape such as rust free, adequately supported and the right materials, for example electrical wiring shouldn’t rely on extension cords, it should be permanent.

Moreover, exhaust ducts from bathrooms and kitchen in cold-climate attics should be insulated to prevent condensation from forming inside the ducts and dripping back down into the bathroom or kitchen. It’s especially important that these ducts exhaust to the outside, rather than simply ending in the attic. They are designed to remove moist air from the house. Channeling that air into the attic will cause condensation problems.

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Attic insulation and ventilation inspection page2

Some of the major issues that an attic faces are insulation and ventilation. These two problems are interrelated which means one cannot work efficiently without fixing the other. For example, an ineffective ventilation in the attic can render attic insulation to a failure. Therefore, by having two system working efficiently, only then your attic will be in good shape which will eventually save your energy cost.

In cold climates, attics represent one of the biggest sources of heat loss, so adequately insulating the space is essential. In hot climates, insulating the attic properly can reduce the amount of heat transmitted into the house from the roof surface and will significantly reduce energy costs.

On the other hand, an inadequate attic ventilation can result in condensation, which will dampen insulation by making it less effective. Condensation also causes moisture to soak into wood causing rot and molds. In the summer, a poorly ventilated attic will allow heat to build up that can also damage wood surfaces. In short, having adequate attic ventilation is essential if you want attic insulation to work effectively.

The following are a couple of articles dealing with issues related to your attic. Read on to find out more.

Attic Insulation
Your energy bill is hitting the roof? Find out from this article if your attic is the culprit and what can be done to reduce the cost.

Attic Insulation - batt vs blown in
Having trouble in choosing the right insulation for your attic? Find out from this article which attic insulation (batt roll or blown in) is the right choice for you to install in your attic.

Attic Blown In Insulation
Do you know how attic blown-in insulation is being done and what are the materials used? If not, then find out more from this article.

Attic Ventilation
Is your attic collecting moisture which causes wood rot? Find out from this article what are the available ventilation methods that can be installed in the attic to solve this problem.

There are some easy home insulation fixes which you could do it yourself (DIY). For example, wrapping an insulation cover around ductwork, hot-water pipes and hot-water heaters are some of the home insulation DIY you can easily handle. These DIY insulation fixes are the easiest to handle and getting it done makes a big difference in your utility bill. Other than helping to reduce your energy cost, these DIY home insulations make the devices (such as hot-water heater) or the heating system last much longer since they do not have to work harder to keep the heat.

Ductwork Insulation
First, check the joints in your ductwork. You can seal any that leak air by wrapping them with an overlapping layer of metal-backed or duct tape (duct tape can’t handle very high temperatures, so it shouldn’t be used around chimneys or flues).

If ductwork from a forced-air heating or cooling system travels through an unheated (or uncooled) space, insulate the ducts. Wrap the ducts with batts of foil-backed fiberglass insulation or foil “sleeves” available at home centers (put affiliate here). Tape the ends of the batts together with duct tape (if you scrape a little insulation off the foil backing, this provides a “lip” that can be wrapped over the neighboring batt to make taping easier).

Fiberglass insulation can irritate eyes, lungs and skin, so take precautions when handling it. Wear gloves, a hood, long sleeves, and long trousers (coveralls work well), and use a respirator mask and safety goggles.

Hot-Water Pipes Insulation
Hot-water pipes that run through unheated areas of the house and are vulnerable to freezing should be insulated. Hot-water pipes can also be insulated as far as possible after it leaves the hot-water tank, even in heated areas. This helps the hot water inside the pipe to retain its heat for longer, and thus reduces the time it takes for hot water to reach your faucets. The easiest insulation to use is the sleeve or tube-style that has a slit running down its length.

The advice for you to work on it is to wait for the hot-water pipes to cool down long enough to be safe. Cut the insulation tube to fit the pipe length as required, and slip it over the pipe (measure your pipe diameter before buying the insulation to make sure you choose the right size). If the slit has self-adhesive backing, remove the tape and seal it. Seams can be duct-taped together.

Hot-water Heaters Insulation
You can buy insulation kits to fit your hot-water tank. Just wrap the insulation around the heater as directed in the instruction. Be careful, however, as there are some areas that insulation shouldn’t cover, such as the top of the tank, temperature control, and drain and pressure-relief valves. For gas heaters, keep the burner inlet, pilot access plate and daft hood clear. For oil heaters, keep the peep sight, flue pipe and oil burner mechanism clear. Lastly, for electric heaters, keep the power connection and element access panels clear.

Roofs Insulation
Heat can build up in the attic for dark covering roof. As a result, the air-conditioning system will be strained due to the heat built up. What you can do is try a heat barrier, which consists of foam sheets with an aluminum layer that blocks the heat. You can staple the sheets to the underside of the roof (aluminum side against the roof).

In conclusion, these are some of the home insulation DIY that are easily done over the weekend. The effort spent on fixing these DIY home insulation are well worth as the benefits to home insulation is an energy efficient home (link. In view of the escalating cost of fossil fuel, home insulation is more important than ever. Home insulation can essentially lower your utility bills by making your home “weather proof” as well as giving huge environmental benefits.

Attic not only needs to be insulated, it also needs to be ventilated. Attic ventilation is important to keep the attic dry and clean. Attic ventilation is necessary for attic to ensure moisture is not collected in the attic which can cause wood rot and ceiling leaks. This is the reason you won’t find insulation packed right up to the roof or being applied between rafters. If your attic has insulation actually attached to the roof surface, you may want to remove it and replace it with insulation on the attic floor.

For attic that doesn’t appear to have enough vents (the attic is hot and there is no air movements inside), you may want to consult a contractor. They will be able to tell you where to add vents, and the type of vents to add, to solve your problems in the most effective ways. One popular method is the stainless-steel mushroom-shaped “whirlybird” vents that you often see rotating on their “stems” on the back sides of roofs. These turbine require no power, but do an excellent job of pulling air out of attic spaces when there’s even the smallest breeze blowing.

The following are a couple of popular vents for attic ventilation which you could consider installing.

Roof Vent
If you are comfortable working on your roof, and the roof is a standard asphalt shingle style without a high pitch, you can install a roof vent yourself. Otherwise, get a contractor to help. It should not be an expensive job and it can make a big difference to the health of your house.

You can first determine how many vents you need, depending on how large your attic is and how much air the vent can move. You could get this information from the place where you purchase the vent. The staffs there should be able to tell you. The vents should be placed fairly close to the ridgeline of the roof, between roof rafters so that you are not cutting through the rafters to install the vent. It should be spaced away from vents in the gables or the eaves so that the attic will be ventilated evenly.

You could refer to the instruction or a template that often comes with the installation kit to determine the hole you need to cut. It doesn’t matter if you are installing a flat vent or a whirlybird vent, the installation kit should have the information you need. Read through the entire instruction list before you do anything else, and ensure that you have all the pieces that should be in the kit, including the vent itself, the template and the flashing that will create a waterproof seal between the vent and the shingles surrounding it. The vent and the flashing are often an all-in-one style.

Some tips which you can apply when installing the roof vents are you should avoid climbing on the roof during hot days. Not only will you feel uncomfortably hot, but you can also damage the asphalt shingles. Their surface becomes soft when they heat up and stepping on them can loosen the surface granules.

Soffit Vents
If you have wooden soffits without vents, you can add soffit vents. You could add about two to three along the longest sides of the house. Locate the vent position in the attic, between two rafters, and drill a hole or hammer a nail through the soffit to mark it. Head outside, and use the hold or nail to help position the vent. Cut a hole through the wooden soffit to match the vent opening that’s required, and then screw the vent into place over the opening. The vent should have a screen incorporated into it to prevent animals or birds from entering the attic.

Attic Baffle Vents
Baffle vents prevent insulation from covering or falling into soffit vents, ensuring airflow is maintained in the attic. Sometimes it can be difficult to keep attic insulation away from soffit vents, especially if you have the type of soffit that is self-venting with slit-like holes running all along it. To solve this problem, use plastic baffles that fit between the rafters against the roof surface, and guide the air from the soffits up toward the roof.

In conclusion, attic ventilation is as important as attic insulation. The attic ventilation methods that had been discussed above are the most popular types of methods in used today. Your house attic is a very important part of your house. The return on investment (ROI) for work done in the attic will pay off in the long run.

Some insulation tips which we will go through are insulation R-values, types of insulation, building codes, insulation ROI, insulation places and benefits of insulation.

When we talk about home insulation, we will often hear the term “R-value” a lot. R-value means resistance value. It measures the insulation’s ability to resist conducting heat. The higher the R-value, the more the material insulates. Insulation comes in several different varieties, with varying R-values. If you are planning to do the home insulation work yourself, do-it-yourself (DIY) jobs generally involved fiberglass batts, which have an R-value of about 3 per inch of material. Loose-fill cellulose, which is also common, has about 3.3 per inch.

According to the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), many older homes have just 4 to 6 inches of insulating material in their attics when the standard in many colder areas of the country is 12 inches, for an insulating value of about R38. If you measure the insulation depth on the attic floor, you can figure out its R-value. You can get the R-value by multiplying the number of inches by 3.3 for loose insulation or by 3 for fiberglass.

Your local building code will tell you what insulation level you need in the house. Attics insulation provide the greatest energy-efficiency return on insulation investment, and it’s relatively easy to have additional insulation laid or blown in to bring attics up to standard.

You may also be able to insulate areas such as unfinished basement walls and crawlspace ceilings yourself, but insulating inside wall cavities is not a DIY job. If you have ever seen frost on the inside of an exterior wall, the wall’s insulation should be improved. The most effective methods involve pumping in loose or expanding-foam insulation through holes drilled in the walls. It’s a major undertaking and requires qualified contractors.

When you are examining your house’s insulation, be aware that certain parts of the house shouldn’t be insulated, including the attic vents (essential for house ventilation), and anywhere that the insulation could catch fire (recessed lighting, chimney, flues, and electrical fixtures, where specific fireproof insulation is needed).

There are a lot of benefits to home insulation. The result of an energy efficient home is one of the benefits of home insulation. In view of the escalating cost of fossil fuel, home insulation is more important than ever. Home insulation can essentially lower your utility bills by making your home “weather proof” as well as giving huge environmental benefits.

In conclusion, there are a lot of benefits in home insulation. You should be doing it especially when your homes are more than 15 years old. The return on insulation investment is far reaching in the long run. But before doing any work by yourself, be sure to check with your local building codes to make sure you don’t break any rules and regulations. Some insulation work can be done by you on a DIY basis while some others require qualified contractors and special equipment. As long as you know what you are doing, you should be fine.