Finishing Attic Space - Best Insulation Plan?

1748 Views 4 Replies 2 Participants Last post by JMinMaryland, Jan 25, 2016

JMinMaryland

Discussion Starter · Jan 25, 2016

Hello,

I'm planning to convert my unfinished attic space into an entertainment room. It has a cathedral ceiling, knee walls and flat ceiling. Spray foam would be too costly so I'm looking at fiberglass.

The current plan is:

Cathedral (2x10) - Vent baffles with R38 faced fiberglass batts
Flat Ceiling (2x8) - R-49 faced fiberglass batts
Exterior Walls (2x4) - R15 faced fiberglass batts
Kneewalls (2x4) - Roxul Safe n Sound (to keep noises from entering bedrooms below)

The attached plan shows it better.

I'm wondering if and where this plan could be improved. Maybe with rigid foam board or building exterior walls to 2x6 depth, preventing thermal bridging, etc.

I want this space to be comfortable. Thank you!

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Windows on Wash

· #2 · Jan 25, 2016

The staple in baffles aren't that good. If it were my home and ridge vented, I would create a continuous vent space with rigid foam (foil face works but Gary has previously brought up a good point about unforeseen melting at the bottom), fill the remaining void with fibrous insulation and drywall where necessary.

I would leave that knee wall area as conditioned as well.

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/pdf/021221068.pdf

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Windows on Wash

· #4 · Jan 25, 2016

Insulate down the plane of the roof so that the kneewall area is effectively inside the conditioned space. At that point, the duct work will be a more hospitable location and you could supply a bit of condition air and return air to that space with a small opening on both the supply and return side.

As far as facing on the insulation, we don't really need it in this area either way.

The foil facing is fine and I actually like it, however, Gary brought up a good point of the radiant aspect of the foam creating a melting issue down near the eaves. If you want, you could run bare insulation near the eaves and radiant/foil faced further up if you want.

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Finishing Attic Space - Best Insulation Plan?

JMinMaryland

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