What tips/questions would you recommend when trying to find a good attic insulator? Do you ever install baffles for the soffits not to be blocked by the blown in insulation? Thanks for the great videos!
Thanks! When there are soffit vents we ALWAYS install baffles. This house did not have functioning soffit vents so we did not. My best tip for finding a good insulator is calling and asking about their attic air sealing policy and whether or not they can perform a blower door test in / test out. If they say they do, ASK for proof via pics of the attic work. Many company will seal what's around the hatch, maybe hit a few wire holes and call it a day (lame!). Air sealing is hard, dirty, but critically important work for a good attic insulation job. Andy
I live in Michigan and have a capecod style upstairs room with a knee wall. The previous owners had R30 insulation held up to the roof bays with wire. With two layers of 2in pink rigid foam along the back of the drywall ceiling for the knee wall. But there was no insulation on the floor in between the floor joists or in the knee wall. This house has soffit and ridge vents. The baffles were incorrectly installed and did not have the flap to block off the floor joist bays from the soffits and the baffles were not overlapped, leaving big gaps. We have had issues with snow melting and causing ice dams on the roof, with obvious signs of heat leaking through the roof showing where the roof bays are in the snow on the roof. What I plan to do is drop the insulation from the roof bays into the floor joist bays, put foam blocks in-between the floor joist bays at the soffits to prevent air wash and seal the attic a bit and put foam blocks in-between the floor joists under the knee walls to seal the floor from leaking hot air from downstairs into the attic space, unfortunately I cannot afford to insulate under the floor between the downstairs and upstairs room, I will fix the gaps in the roof bay baffles with tape and add 2in pink rigid foam over them to create a channel and barrier from the attic space. I will insulate the knee walls with R30 fiberglass insulation with perforated radiant barrier to hold the bats to the 2x4 stud walls and prevent moisture being held in. I do plan to have a gap in the rigid pink foam that is in the roof bays at the high corner of the knee walls for ventilation. The idea being that when the air rushes up the roof bay channel, it will create a siphon that will suck up any hot humid air from the attic space up to the ridge vent. Is this a good idea? Are there any issues with it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi there, you've got a quite a project and Capes are complex homes. I've added a link to a video where I show how another company insulated a Cape in Pittsburgh, why it didn't work, and how we addressed it. I would watch it first and come back with any questions. We've insulated over a thousand Capes this way here and it's been an effective solution in terms of comfort / energy efficiency improvement without mold growth in the attic spaces. ua-cam.com/video/YsVCTGRR7fc/v-deo.html
Sorry, I should have shown this in the video. We attached a stud on the underside of the floor joists - directly in the middle of the stairwell void by toe nailing it in with screws. We then laid the foam board in between the rafter bays in strips, tacked them into top plates at the edges with roofing nails, and then sealed all of the perimeter edges. It's a durable and effective solution. Andy
What tips/questions would you recommend when trying to find a good attic insulator? Do you ever install baffles for the soffits not to be blocked by the blown in insulation? Thanks for the great videos!
Thanks! When there are soffit vents we ALWAYS install baffles. This house did not have functioning soffit vents so we did not. My best tip for finding a good insulator is calling and asking about their attic air sealing policy and whether or not they can perform a blower door test in / test out. If they say they do, ASK for proof via pics of the attic work. Many company will seal what's around the hatch, maybe hit a few wire holes and call it a day (lame!). Air sealing is hard, dirty, but critically important work for a good attic insulation job.
Andy
Great vid thanks for posting
Glad you enjoyed it
I live in Michigan and have a capecod style upstairs room with a knee wall. The previous owners had R30 insulation held up to the roof bays with wire. With two layers of 2in pink rigid foam along the back of the drywall ceiling for the knee wall. But there was no insulation on the floor in between the floor joists or in the knee wall. This house has soffit and ridge vents. The baffles were incorrectly installed and did not have the flap to block off the floor joist bays from the soffits and the baffles were not overlapped, leaving big gaps. We have had issues with snow melting and causing ice dams on the roof, with obvious signs of heat leaking through the roof showing where the roof bays are in the snow on the roof.
What I plan to do is drop the insulation from the roof bays into the floor joist bays, put foam blocks in-between the floor joist bays at the soffits to prevent air wash and seal the attic a bit and put foam blocks in-between the floor joists under the knee walls to seal the floor from leaking hot air from downstairs into the attic space, unfortunately I cannot afford to insulate under the floor between the downstairs and upstairs room, I will fix the gaps in the roof bay baffles with tape and add 2in pink rigid foam over them to create a channel and barrier from the attic space. I will insulate the knee walls with R30 fiberglass insulation with perforated radiant barrier to hold the bats to the 2x4 stud walls and prevent moisture being held in. I do plan to have a gap in the rigid pink foam that is in the roof bays at the high corner of the knee walls for ventilation. The idea being that when the air rushes up the roof bay channel, it will create a siphon that will suck up any hot humid air from the attic space up to the ridge vent. Is this a good idea? Are there any issues with it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi there, you've got a quite a project and Capes are complex homes. I've added a link to a video where I show how another company insulated a Cape in Pittsburgh, why it didn't work, and how we addressed it. I would watch it first and come back with any questions. We've insulated over a thousand Capes this way here and it's been an effective solution in terms of comfort / energy efficiency improvement without mold growth in the attic spaces.
ua-cam.com/video/YsVCTGRR7fc/v-deo.html
Also how did you attach the foam board to the underside of the trusses above the stairwell? Thanks!
Sorry, I should have shown this in the video. We attached a stud on the underside of the floor joists - directly in the middle of the stairwell void by toe nailing it in with screws. We then laid the foam board in between the rafter bays in strips, tacked them into top plates at the edges with roofing nails, and then sealed all of the perimeter edges. It's a durable and effective solution.
Andy
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