Control Attic Temp

[The Conservative]

I bought this old house back in February and structurally it is in great shape. However, there is zero insulation between the rafters in the attic or under the floors btwn the joists. There is old blown in insulation right above my ceilings right now with newer R-15 on top of it that was half-heartedly put it.

If I want to keep my house cool this summer without spending a fortune, I have a feeling I am going to need to do something soon.

If I want to save money on energy, want are the best steps I can take to get the best return on my time/money/effort?

Thanks -

Wake

[Chuck the Duck Slayer]

Spray insulation

[millero]

if you have a place to put it, put in a fan to pull air out. i have mine set to where at 90* it turns on to pull air through the vents out of the attic.

[bigtimeduckhunter]

In my old house, i had 14" of insulation blown inthe attic. I don't remember the "R" value I achieved, but it was relatively inexpensive. Within a few months the insulation settled to around 12". I had the company give me a quote on insulating the floor, but it was substantially more money. I decided to do it on my own, but only finished 1/3 of the house. Hanging insulation in floor joices is not fun.
The most energy efficient upgrade I did to the house was changing out the old single pane windows with insulated double pane replacement windows.

[CAMO SNOB]

build a box outa foam board to insulate the attic stairs + get blown in insulation, not sprayed.

[ersepton]

build a box outa foam board to insulate the attic stairs + get blown in insulation, not sprayed.

This, insulating the attic door did more for my old house than any other thing I tried. My thermostat was directly under the attic door, and the heat that came through the cracks in the door caused the air to run constantly no matter what you had it set on. This became a real pain in the ass, so I built a frame that fit in the attic door frame, and just pushed it up and out of the way when I went up there.

[CAMO SNOB]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8POZvK9QB6k[/ame]

[muddman]

Blown insulation is the way to go.

[XHailGC]

Ridge vents and insulation...

[USMCsilver]

Ridge vents and insulation...

Add solar roof vent to the list.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

[charlie horse]

Ive been in attics that were foamed..I was amazed at the difference it makes. When I remodel my family's old farm house, this is on my list of things that will be done. Ridge vents will remove alot of heat, but you have to have good venting in the soffit for the attic to breathe.

[The Conservative]

when they tell you that the spray-in foam is $X/sqft, do they measure it by the rafter square footage of the footage of the attic floor? B/c depending on the pitch, am I correct to think that rafter square footage would be at least 1.5 times, probably closer to 2 times the square footage of the attic floor?

[charlie horse]

It would be the sf of the roof...and yes depending on the pitch it will be more than your floor space..I dont think twice as much..you would be on a 12/12 for that.

[cajunwannabe]

but it works like a champ.

http://www.icynene.com/residential

[rrconductor]

How about power roof vent fans ?

[willmac1211]

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Owens-Cor...9#.UdT0vsu9KSM

If you don't want to build a box you could buy this

[KCM]

I have been putting R-30 down over some old blown in insulation and then screwing down plywood to ceiling joist to seal it in completely, also spray foaming all holes in wall joist from attic. Installed an attic fan years ago which seamed to help a little. I only have a third of the attic finished so I do not know what the savings is yet but hopefully in a few weeks I will be complete.

Next will be under the house. I have new insulation under the kitchen when I remodeled it a few years ago and you can tell a huge difference there.

Best investment so far was a new split AC unit and new double gas filled insulated windows.

I can say who ever built this house back in the 80's sucked.

[reeltight]

Ways to save on energy bill in the attack...most of these have been said but as an insulation contractor these are the things we use to check and recommend to customers...

1. 5" open cell foam on the roof deck and gable ends...expensive but very very effective. With use of this product, all other recommendations are worthless.
2. Insulated reflective barrier on roof deck. (Can do your self with a low pitch roof line)
3. Attic fan, gable or roof...useless if you don't have good gable or soffit ventilation
4. Attic stair tent, or foam box
5. Caulk or foam around any and all can lights or junction boxes in ceiling.
6. Have more insulation blown in...Make sure not to blow over soffit vents.