14 Point Attic Tune up
The Gold Plan
WGN'S LOU MANFREDINI TALKS ABOUT 14 POINT
ATTIC TUNE UP:
Listen
This plan automatically addresses many issues brought out by a home energy audit.
1. Air Sealing Service. Before insulation it is important to seal many sources of air infiltration from your conditioned space. This seals the heat or air conditioning in the space you live in.
- Electric penetrations through the top plate of wall partitions
- Plumbing penetrations
- HVAC penetrations
- Mechanical chutes
- Access hatch
- The top plate of interior partitions (layout of interior walls)
- The top plate of exterior perimeter walls
- Drop soffits (predominate in kitchens and baths)
- Can Lights
- Flag and mark electrical events before insulating
2. Good Air Flow: It is beneficial to allow fresh air to flow above your insulation blanket. This helps keep your attic cooler in the summer and lengthens the life expectancy of your roof. In the winter, allowing good air flow keeps the space above your insulation blanket close to the temperature of the outdoors. This helps eliminate ice damming.
- Check and clean out soffits: Reach in and remove overflow insulation from the soffit. This service allows air to flow from previously blocked vents in your soffits.
- Install Rafter Baffles: installing baffles above and around your soffit vents, insures air flow and protects this space from overflow insulation when the space is re-insulated.
3. Power Fans: Attic or bath.
- ATTIC FAN: check, clean and lube the power attic fan. Make sure it is working.
- BATH FANS: make sure bath fans are vented to the outside. It is amazing how many times we go into attics and find bath fans with no ducting at all, let alone vented to the outside.
4. Blow cellulose insulation to R-50.
- Only after the steps above are completed is there a full blanket of cellulose insulation spread across your attic space.
Cellulose Insulation
When choosing the type of insulation to use in your building and attic space, cellulose stands out from the rest because it:
- Insulates Better
- Saves More Energy
- Recycles Waste Product
- Slows the Spread of Fire.
Made from recycled wood fiber, primarily newspaper, cellulose insulation not only makes efficient use of natural resources, but is:
- Class-1 Fire Rated – it contains fire-retardant chemical additives
- Easier to install in irregular spaces, creating a custom-fit monolithic seal over an entire area.
- Seals against air infiltration better than other fiber insulations.
Cellulose contains no formaldehyde and no glass fibers that cause itch.Studies have confirmed that homeowners who use cellulose insulation will use 20 – 40% less energy than homes with a fiber glass insulation. Since the fibers of cellulose insulation are much finer than mineral fiber blowing insulation, cellulose insulation fills more gaps and voids. Cellulose fills and covers a blanket without the air flow other mineral fibered products allow.
