How To Insulate Finished Attic So It Stays Cold

Staple or tack the 6 mil poly vapor barrier to the ceiling side if the rafters.

How to insulate finished attic so it stays cold.

Attic fans push out the hot air and pull in the cool air from the vents installed on your roof. There are two basic ways to insulate a finished attic. This will give 10 inches of insulation and break the thermal bridge. In this case the area behind the knee wall will be uncomfortably hot or cold.

Most codes require a specified minimum amount of headroom and it s tough to meet this requirement when insulating a finished attic especially since most codes require insulation equal to r 38 or more. It also helps keep warm air from rising to the underside of your roof and melting the snow creating those dangerous ice dams as well as frost in your attic. If only the living space will be insulated wrap the insulation around the room s walls and ceiling and then continue along the floor of the non living space. Without properly ventilating the roof your finished space can be just as unpleasant as an unfinished attic.

Fill the space between the rafters tight to the baffles and then lay another layer of batts across the rafters. Attach your ceiling material so the insulation won t fall through. Since parts of a finished attic are usually very close to the roof insulation often blocks proper ventilation that is needed under a roof structure. 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.

Generally bat insulation or blown in fiberglass or cellulose are the most common for a cold attic. To meet all three goals insulating your finished attic ventilating the roof and maximizing headroom use a combination of dense batt insulation rigid foam sheeting and air chutes.