Adding Fiberglass Insulation To Your Attic

This type of insulation.

Adding fiberglass insulation to your attic.

If you re just beginning the process of adding or replacing insulation throughout your house the attic is the perfect place to start. 3 have a friend add material to the hopper. Blanket insulation is available as batts or rolls and is the easiest diy insulation material. Loose fill fiberglass attic insulation still experiences convection but not nearly as much as old fiberglass used to.

Cellulose is recycled newsprint treated with a fire retardant. The negative thing about blown in insulation is that it makes the attic absolutely impassable when you re done and you need a lot more thickness of it because it has more air inside of it than you would if you used fiberglass bats. The first step of your project will be choosing an insulation type. Most attics are insulated with blown in loose cellulose r 3 5 per inch blown in loose fiberglass r 2 5 per inch or fiberglass batts r 3 2 per inch.

Cover the attic hatch with a pillow of fiberglass insulation. Because blown in insulation which is fiberglass generally can go on top of the existing insulation. The recommended level for most attics is to insulate to r 38 or about 10 to 14 inches depending on insulation type. Cut two layers of r 19 fiberglass batt insulation slightly larger than the hatch and staple duct tape to the hatch edges to secure it in place.

When i think of insulation what comes to mind is fiberglass blanket insulation. To get the target r value from the product you chose use the number of bags your calculations showed that you needed to insulate your attic never fewer. Insulation should be rolled out perpendicular to the joists and unfaced rolls should be used. If you ve reached your target depth but still have a few bags left over keep adding the material at an even depth throughout the space until all the bags your calculations called for are empty.

Batt or rolled insulation or blown loose fill insulation fiberglass or cellulose can be installed on top of old insulation. Fiberglass is just that thin fibers of glass that trap air. It s available in fiberglass mineral wool plastic fibers and natural fibers. When adding additional insulation you do not have to use the same type of insulation that currently exists in your attic.

Add the right kind of insulation. If you check with the north american insulation manufacturers association they ll assure you that fiberglass or mineral wool is definitely your best choice for attic insulation. Any existing batt or roll insulation in the attic should have the facing against the attic drywall floor or no facing at all. Spray foam attic insulation.