Reinslating Finished Attic

Without properly insulating your finished attic room will also be cold in the winter.

Reinslating finished attic.

A finished attic should be insulated much like the rest of the house with insulation in the walls and ceiling. Finished attics need stairs that meet all of the standard staircase requirements. For diy attic insulation you ve got two choices. To meet all three goals insulating your finished attic ventilating the roof and maximizing headroom use a combination of dense batt insulation rigid foam sheeting and air chutes.

Stairs can take up a lot of space in both the attic and in the floor below so they are important considerations for planning. Proper attic insulation is the best way to prevent heat loss in the winter and retain cool air in the summer. Your attic has a climate of its own. What about finished attics.

So it s time to pay close attention to what s happening up there. For maximum comfort create a separate zone within your hvac system for the finished space. Then install drywall over the insulation and use drywall tape and mud to smooth the seams. There s a chance you ll need to enlarge the system if your attic wasn t heated or cooled previously so call in a pro to make sure it s up to snuff.

In general stairs must be at least 3 feet wide and provide at least 6 feet 8 inches of headroom. If you re finishing your attic insulating it to the proper r value can cause a dramatic loss of headroom if you limit yourself to fiberglass batts. If it is and you plan to provide heating and cooling to the finished attic space you need to remove. Once you ve decided which type is best for you examine the material options and prices to home in on the right product.

How to insulate a finished attic. Since parts of a finished attic are usually very close to the roof insulation often blocks proper ventilation that is needed under a roof structure. Without properly ventilating the roof your finished space can be just as unpleasant as an unfinished attic. That means insulating the attic floor only not the walls and having vents in the roof.

To learn how to find out the building code requirements for an attic room keep reading. Loose fill or batt the common term for blanket insulation. The attic floor which is the ceiling of the living space below often already is insulated. With a finished attic insulation must help keep the attic areas comfortable.

With square foot living space at a premium many homeowners turn to their attics for a little extra room when the attic becomes part of the home to be heated and cooled.