Space between floors

deerhunter · 09-30-2010, 01:17 PM

My house is two stories. I just noticed that there is insulation at the ceiling of the first floor. But there is a gap between that insulation and the up stairs floor. I researched a little bit it seems that it's considered unnecessary to add insulation between floors, because it's like insulating interior walls. But the issue is that the space between first and second floor isn't really air tight, there is one part that's not sealed and opens to the attic (the second floor is in the attic). And even though I can seal this part, there is also the path for the ducts for the first floor AC and heating, which can be hard to seal. What's the common practice in this situation?

Ron6519 · 10-01-2010, 12:45 PM

Gaps ,especially vertical openings between floors should be sealed. In case of fire,these gaps will be used as a way for the fire to spread through out the house.
Ron

Wildie · 10-01-2010, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deerhunter

My house is two stories. I just noticed that there is insulation at the ceiling of the first floor. But there is a gap between that insulation and the up stairs floor. I researched a little bit it seems that it's considered unnecessary to add insulation between floors, because it's like insulating interior walls. But the issue is that the space between first and second floor isn't really air tight, there is one part that's not sealed and opens to the attic (the second floor is in the attic). And even though I can seal this part, there is also the path for the ducts for the first floor AC and heating, which can be hard to seal. What's the common practice in this situation?

Insulation between floors is usually installed to reduce the transmission of sound. Interior walls are sometimes insulated for this reason, also.
When I built my house, I framed the bathroom walls with off-set studs and wove batt insulation in and out to reduce bathroom noise.
It seemed to have been effective!

Scuba_Dave · 10-01-2010, 01:40 PM

My house has R25 in the 1st floor ceiling
Keeps the 1st floor warm, & allows enough heat to the 2nd floor
Since its one zone & the 2nd floor is bedrooms its a nice way to save on heating cost
I did seal the gaps in the wet wall between basement & 1st floor, 1st floor & 2nd floor

deerhunter · 10-01-2010, 09:56 PM

I think I should at least seal that space between floor and ceiling. I plan to seal the flex duct path with sheet metal with holes cut out so that the duct can go through. Then tape the edge with foil tape. It's just that spot is pretty hart to reach.