How To Insulate An Old Home Attic

While wearing dust mask and gloves carry r 38 batts of unfaced fiberglass insulation into the attic.

How to insulate an old home attic. You should be able to see if there is insulation in the wall and possibly how thick it is. Attic hatch or door. Homes built before the mid 20th century were not built with the same techniques that we use today. Use a zippered insulated tent to keep the enclosure draft free attic tent at 7 attic cover insulator 120.

Install siding over the insulation. The best way to insulate attic doors is to make a pillow made of insulation batting. One way to insulate walls of an old house is to focus on the home s exterior. In this case the area behind the knee wall will be uncomfortably hot or cold.

Inspect the exterior walls by using an electrical outlet. Apply a house wrap vapor barrier to exterior walls. You can simply insulate your antique house however below are some considerations which you must keep in mind. While insulating your attic make sure to seal off areas where you will be working with old insulation caulk would be ideal for sealing off those spaces and then remove old insulation and install the new cellulose insulation.

Add foam to the edges to keep it air sealed. Pull down stair or ladder. In this video this old house general contractor tom silva and host kevin o connor explain how to insulate an attic. Affix rigid foam insulation to the attic side of the hatch or door.

Add weatherstripping around the perimeter and a sweep to the door of a walk up attic. Lay the batts across the ceiling joists covering the existing insulation. Turn off the power to the outlet. Remove the outlet cover and shine a flashlight into the crack around the outlet box.

Replace old windows with energy efficient units. The problems with old home insulation i m not really talking about the problems with existing old home insulation but rather the topic of how and where should you add insulation to an old home. Caulk window trim and use weatherstripping to reduce air leaks. Measure first before you stick it onto the attic door with tape.