Insulate Old House Attic

Cost effective way to save energy with this old house general contractor tom silva.

Insulate old house attic.

Attic hatch or door. I get asked a lot about insulating old houses especially in the wintertime. Even if you bought the house with insulation already installed into it it s best to double check. This old house general contractor tom silva shows affordable ways to create an energy efficient attic how to know what insulation is behind your walls if you live in an older home understanding what pads your walls is essential to keeping your family safe.

But that might be a bad idea. There are a couple creative yet expensive ways i would consider retroactively insulating the walls of an old house if you are in a far northern climate where it might make financial sense. Chances are good that if your house was built before the 1960 s there is little to no insulation. But just because your insulation is old doesn t mean it is dangerous.

Roughly a quarter of the average home s heat is lost through the roof. The answer to making an old house inhabitable is insulation. Pull down stair or ladder. This old house general contractor tom silva and host kevin o connor demonstrate the proper way to insulate an attic.

People fall in love with the character rich architecture of these homes but they don t want the crazy heating and cooling bills that come along with that character. One of the most common materials containing asbestos fibers is attic and wall insulation. This answer will vary from old house to old house. Affix rigid foam insulation to the attic side of the hatch or door.

Before you take that step learn how to insulate an old house effectively. Rather than insulating the whole home and potentially causing. Since warm air has a tendency to rise and cool air to fall insulating the attic is the place to start. The insulation materials used in older houses are not as effective in keeping heat in as the new ones.

Add weatherstripping around the perimeter and a sweep to the door of a walk up attic. See below for a shopping list and tools. If the attic is unfinished the insulation should be installed on the floor. As mentioned most heat loss is typically through the roof.

Insulating the attic and roof. See below for a shopping list and tools subscribe to this old house. Some common insulation methods can actually cause long term damage. In older homes specifically asbestos may be found in many different materials from pipe insulation to flooring adhesive to roof shingles.