Adding Fiberglass Insulation To Your Attic

Cover the attic hatch with a pillow of fiberglass insulation.

Adding fiberglass insulation to your attic.

Add the right kind of insulation. Spray foam attic 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. Fiberglass is just that thin fibers of glass that trap air.

When adding additional insulation you do not have to use the same type of insulation that currently exists in your attic. Blanket insulation is available as batts or rolls and is the easiest diy insulation material. 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. Cellulose is recycled newsprint treated with a fire retardant.

You can add loose fill on top of fiberglass batts or blankets and vice versa. The first step of your project will be choosing an insulation type. 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. Block all vents in the attic floor with baffles making sure to extend the baffles at least four inches above the planned thickness of your insulation.

Insulation should be rolled out perpendicular to the joists and unfaced rolls should be used. This type of insulation. 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. 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.

If you re just beginning the process of adding or replacing insulation throughout your house the attic is the perfect place to start. You want a nice big puffy pillow of insulation to stop any air leaks says olson. Loose fill fiberglass attic insulation still experiences convection but not nearly as much as old fiberglass used to. It s available in fiberglass mineral wool plastic fibers and natural fibers.

Because blown in insulation which is fiberglass generally can go on top of the existing insulation. 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. When i think of insulation what comes to mind is fiberglass blanket insulation. Batt or rolled insulation or blown loose fill insulation fiberglass or cellulose can be installed on top of old insulation.