Reinslating Finished Attic

Attic hatch or door.

Reinslating finished attic.

A finished attic should be insulated much like the rest of the house with insulation in the walls and ceiling. Proper attic insulation is the best way to prevent heat loss in the winter and retain cool air in the summer. Finished attics need stairs that meet all of the standard staircase requirements. In general stairs must be at least 3 feet wide and provide at least 6 feet 8 inches of headroom.

Use a zippered insulated tent to keep the enclosure draft free attic tent at 7 attic cover insulator 120. Stairs can take up a lot of space in both the attic and in the floor below so they are important considerations for planning. Without properly insulating your finished attic room will also be cold in the winter. Affix rigid foam insulation to the attic side of the hatch or door.

For a finished attic to be to code it must satisfy the same living requirements of other rooms sometimes called the rule of sevens any living space in a home needs to have at least 7 feet 2 1 m of clearance from the floor to the ceiling and there needs to be at least 70 square feet of space available at least 7 feet 2 1 m in each direction. 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. Install fiberglass blankets between the rafters and wall studs and install new drywall or paneling.

Add weatherstripping around the perimeter and a sweep to the door of a walk up attic. Most codes require a specified minimum amount of headroom and it s tough to meet this requirement when insulating a finished attic especially since most codes require insulation equal to r 38 or more. So it s time to pay close attention to what s happening up there. 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.

Pull down stair or ladder. That means insulating the attic floor only not the walls and having vents in the roof. Without properly ventilating the roof your finished space can be just as unpleasant as an unfinished attic. Drill holes between studs and rafters and blow in insulation without taking down walls.

The attic floor which is the ceiling of the living space below often already is insulated. A finished attic is insulated in one of three ways.