I'm planning on plywood to our side attics so we have some storage space in our new to us home, and need to add insulation while I am at it. We have 2x6 joists on IIRC ~18 inch centers. I'm pasting below a writeup I did from a non DIY site before I was pointed to this forum. I think we are going to pick up loose cellulose and a sprayer from lowes or HD. There is no current vapor barrier, but I have read that when there isn't one vapor barrier paint can be put on the ceilings on the first floor, and other people who say a few layers of regular paint will form an effective barrier. There appears to be 1-3 inches of original mineral wool in most of the attic, and some spotches of R-19 have been installed here and there, with the kraft paper facing the wrong way.
Rolled around in the insulation today. There are no soffit vents on the house, actually no soffit. So two large triangle gable vents at the ends of the main ridgeline and a round one halfway up the attic space on a front facing extension.
It appears that there are fiberglass batts on the sides of knee walls and pushed up into the area above part of the top of the finished area upstairs. There were a few spaces where the insulation was not stuffed into the upper cavity, and I started to add some here but I'm thinking they need to stay open to allow air to get up into the peak area between the two gable end vents.
I'm going to try to use 2x4s as furring to place on top of the 2x6 joists leaving me with 9 inches of space to blow in cellulose insulation below the plywood I will be adding to the attic. I'll probably just be adding 4-5 sheets of plywood leaving most of the space empty but giving us enough room to stash the christmas crap and old boxes of junk. I'm thinking I need to add some sections of 2x4 to most of the joists or it will be impossible to walk the attic in the future as the joists will be covered in 3-4 inches of cellulose.
I noticed that on the half of our front wall where our roofed porch is, there appears to be no top plate to that wall. I can see the wall cavity, and through it to the area inside the porch roof. I'm tempted to check out the electrical in that area and make sure there are good boxes behind the outlets and then spraying some cellulose down into that area and then adding a top plate. Right now that front wall, and probably many more don't have insulation at all. Right now where the wall meets the joists, there were paper bags to keep the original mineral wool insulation from falling into the walls. Just not sure if I should let the insulation down into this wall or if I should keep it simple, block them off again and just add the attic insulation.
The attic doesn't appear to have ideal ventilation, but the roof has been on for a good long time and it doesn't appear to be suffering. My concern right now is to try to improve or at least not screw up the ventilation anymore than it currently is. Also to get the electric cleaned up and checked out(thats what my electrician brother is for after all) as right now the outlets upstairs in the kneewalls are exposed without boxes, and I need to get that cleaned up before the insulation goes in.
Going to try to snag some pictures tonight so everyone can see what I'm talking about. This is our first project we are tackling, so help if you can.
Rolled around in the insulation today. There are no soffit vents on the house, actually no soffit. So two large triangle gable vents at the ends of the main ridgeline and a round one halfway up the attic space on a front facing extension.
It appears that there are fiberglass batts on the sides of knee walls and pushed up into the area above part of the top of the finished area upstairs. There were a few spaces where the insulation was not stuffed into the upper cavity, and I started to add some here but I'm thinking they need to stay open to allow air to get up into the peak area between the two gable end vents.
I'm going to try to use 2x4s as furring to place on top of the 2x6 joists leaving me with 9 inches of space to blow in cellulose insulation below the plywood I will be adding to the attic. I'll probably just be adding 4-5 sheets of plywood leaving most of the space empty but giving us enough room to stash the christmas crap and old boxes of junk. I'm thinking I need to add some sections of 2x4 to most of the joists or it will be impossible to walk the attic in the future as the joists will be covered in 3-4 inches of cellulose.
I noticed that on the half of our front wall where our roofed porch is, there appears to be no top plate to that wall. I can see the wall cavity, and through it to the area inside the porch roof. I'm tempted to check out the electrical in that area and make sure there are good boxes behind the outlets and then spraying some cellulose down into that area and then adding a top plate. Right now that front wall, and probably many more don't have insulation at all. Right now where the wall meets the joists, there were paper bags to keep the original mineral wool insulation from falling into the walls. Just not sure if I should let the insulation down into this wall or if I should keep it simple, block them off again and just add the attic insulation.
The attic doesn't appear to have ideal ventilation, but the roof has been on for a good long time and it doesn't appear to be suffering. My concern right now is to try to improve or at least not screw up the ventilation anymore than it currently is. Also to get the electric cleaned up and checked out(thats what my electrician brother is for after all) as right now the outlets upstairs in the kneewalls are exposed without boxes, and I need to get that cleaned up before the insulation goes in.
Going to try to snag some pictures tonight so everyone can see what I'm talking about. This is our first project we are tackling, so help if you can.