Why Should You Insulate Your Attic?
Insulating your attic can help prevent gradual damage to your home. With extreme heat or cold comes moisture and water. The presence of moisture can cause wall erosion and negatively impact the structure of your home.
Insulation minimizes and effectively prevents such an occurrence.
What Should You Know Ahead of Insulating Your Attic?
Here are three things you need to know ahead of insulating your attic.
What is the Current Condition of Your Attic?
Grab a builder or architect and inspect the current state of your attic. Look out for existing moisture problems such as wet or damp insulation, mold, or rotted rafters. This can identify if there’s a potential leak in your roof.
Also, take note of the rafter size. Many older homes have undersized rafters that are no longer up to building codes. As a result, when the heat rises in the attic, helping to melt snow accumulated on the roof, it can sag the rafters, leading to roof failure.
Properly Seal The Space
Once you’ve made an evaluation, make sure the attic is properly air-sealed. Ensuring the space is appropriately sealed means you need to be on the hunt for any space air can get in from; holes, cracks, gaps, etc.
Deciding on the Best Insulation Method Beforehand
Now it’s time to decide on the method of insulation. We’re going to break some of the processes down to help in your decision-making and understanding.
What Are The Different Methods of Attic Insulation?
There are many different insulation methods for your attic, but these are a few we believe are worth mentioning and going over.
Fiberglass Batt Attic Insulation
Fiberglass Batt is a double-edged sword. It’s easy to add insulation but doesn’t do a great job insulating. Regardless, people focus on the straightforward and speedy nature of this method and, in turn, have made it one of the most popular attic insulation methods.
Loose-Fill Fiberglass Batt Attic Insulation
When it comes to new construction homes, loose-fill fiberglass batt insulation is dominating the space. To insulate, you’ll need an insulation blower as it’s nearly impossible to spread it around yourself. In addition, older fiberglass can be itchy and bothersome to your skin and lungs, so keep this in mind as time goes on.
Loose-fill Fiberglass Batt Insulation has an estimated R-value of 2.5 per inch.
Cellulose Attic Insulation
Cellulose is made from recycled ground-up paper and boric acid. The boric acid helps control bugs and protect against fires. Like loose-fiberglass batt, you’ll need an insulation blower to install the material properly.
Cellulose Insulation has an estimated R-value of 3.5 per inch.
Spray Foam Attic Insulation
There are two types of spray foam insulation materials.
- Closed Cell – (R-Value of 6.5)
- Open Cell – (R-Value of 3.6)
When installed correctly, these insulation materials do a phenomenal job of filling in all gaps and ensuring no air gets through. The closed-cell foam also acts as a moisture barrier. However, it is an expensive method of choice and shouldn’t be installed as a DIY project.
A final note on spray foam attic insulations that heed against a DIY method is the use of highly toxic chemicals, which, if misapplied, can have devastating effects on the health of home residents.
Are you looking to make a move and get your attic correctly insulated? Then, don’t waste any more time! Instead, get in touch with us about a free estimate. Ottawa Insulation is ready to chat with you about your basement ambitions.
