Insulating A Knee Wall With A Vented Roof

If you want the attic to be outside then using foamboard on the attic side of the knee wall is a good idea.

Insulating a knee wall with a vented roof.

The first picture is looking up at the angled roof of the knee wall. In the knee wall area the insulation is in the floor and on the back of the knee wall. In an ideal world we install soffit vents as intakes make sure the slopes can breathe with ventilation baffles and exhaust through a ridge vent. The quest for greater energy efficiency in buildings has led to increasing interest and need for insulation improvements in hvac equipment more airtight construction new materials and assemblies.

Senior engineer manager at icynene john broniek makes the case for the unvented attic assembly and why insulating the underside of the roof makes sense. Keep the attic outside insulating a kneewall and the attic floor behind the kneewall is possible but tricky. You can use foam board to make baffles near your soffit vents and then blow in enough insulation to reach the r value you want. Insulating the floor and kneewall requires more careful air sealing but is sometimes easier to insulate since you can use blown insulation.

Bring the attic inside insulating between the rafters simplifies the air sealing details. Fill the remaining space with fiberglass or cellulose. How to insulate knee walls 1. Now that the kneewall is.

The specific r value for the insulation you need. Ventilating knee wall attics is challenging. I installed baffles between the roof and insulation shown to allow for the air to flow from the soffit to the roof attic as shown in the second picture. If there is a well defined air barrier following the upper roof slope to the knee walls and down into the floor joists sealed blocking and the lower slope insulation is not blocking roof ventilation then there s no harm in leaving the lower slope insulation or repairing it as.

Lay each unfaced strip of insulation between the. Old school roof vents which look like rectangles on the roof work pretty well too. Use an r value map to determine the amount of insulation you need. More details online 1.

The first point is sealing the soffit venting. The ceiling and knee wall drywall will act as your air barrier. The critical issues are the location and integrity of the air barrier and whether the roof is vented or should be. With 2x6 rafters this will give about an r 19 roof higher if you use thicker solid foam insulation.

Sometimes though there are no soffits. Insulating and air sealing knee walls vented version.