Another hot attic to cool down...
#1
08-16-03, 01:36 PM
Another hot attic to cool down...
Hello all,
I recently purchased a 2 story colonial house that was built in 1965.
It has 2 separate attics. One over the garage and one over the rest of the house. The upper floor living space is typically 10 to 12 degrees warmer than the lower floor.
The attatched garage is pretty much always like an oven.
The house was re-roofed, vinyl sided and some really good windows installed in 1999. The attic is only 4 1/2' high at the peak. The soffets have perforated venting but I don't know as yet if insulation is blocking them in any way.
The only other venting is the two gable vents at either end of the main structure. The insulation in the attic is typical circa 1965. Bats of what I would guess to be R-11 or so.
As soon as fall comes and the weather cools down, I intend to tackle this problem by installing ridge venting and about 4 or 5 tin short stacks. (Why they did not install ridge venting 4 years ago baffles me)
What I need to know is what is the best, most cost efficient way to cure this problem beyond adding venting?
Do I...
A. Remove all old nasty bat insulation and replace with new R-29 bats?
B. Remove all old nasty bat insulation and blow in new to capacity?
C. Leave in old insulation and add new bats of R-19?
D. Leave in old insulation and blow in new to capacity?
I plan on doing this myself with help from friends.
Is the perforation in the vinyl soffet material adiquate?
Should I use those foam heat deflectors at the soffets?
Do I need powered venting?
I am also toying with the idea of converting the laundry chute into a heat/cool exchanger by installing a reversible fan in it. It is always cool in the basement and I figure I can use it to blow cool air up to the second floor in the summer and suck heat out of the second floor down to the basement in the winter.
Anybody ever do this?
Thanks!
I recently purchased a 2 story colonial house that was built in 1965.
It has 2 separate attics. One over the garage and one over the rest of the house. The upper floor living space is typically 10 to 12 degrees warmer than the lower floor.
The attatched garage is pretty much always like an oven.
The house was re-roofed, vinyl sided and some really good windows installed in 1999. The attic is only 4 1/2' high at the peak. The soffets have perforated venting but I don't know as yet if insulation is blocking them in any way.
The only other venting is the two gable vents at either end of the main structure. The insulation in the attic is typical circa 1965. Bats of what I would guess to be R-11 or so.
As soon as fall comes and the weather cools down, I intend to tackle this problem by installing ridge venting and about 4 or 5 tin short stacks. (Why they did not install ridge venting 4 years ago baffles me)
What I need to know is what is the best, most cost efficient way to cure this problem beyond adding venting?
Do I...
A. Remove all old nasty bat insulation and replace with new R-29 bats?
B. Remove all old nasty bat insulation and blow in new to capacity?
C. Leave in old insulation and add new bats of R-19?
D. Leave in old insulation and blow in new to capacity?
I plan on doing this myself with help from friends.
Is the perforation in the vinyl soffet material adiquate?
Should I use those foam heat deflectors at the soffets?
Do I need powered venting?
I am also toying with the idea of converting the laundry chute into a heat/cool exchanger by installing a reversible fan in it. It is always cool in the basement and I figure I can use it to blow cool air up to the second floor in the summer and suck heat out of the second floor down to the basement in the winter.
Anybody ever do this?
Thanks!
#2
08-16-03, 04:28 PM
attic
I would try and inlarge both gable vents that you have. Install a gable vent fan on one end.
Do your D but go for a R30 on top of what you have for where you live
Make sure that the vents in the over hang or soffet air can get over the insulation with the tubes or there is a card board set up you can use there. So the air gets into the attic
You can run the ac or furnace fan all the time for a better temp up and down. Dont put one in that chute to blow up or down into or out of the basementits not worth it. You would just put more humidity in the home that the AC would have to pull out.
The ridge vents just dont seem to work to good around here.
My .02 cents worth
ED
Do your D but go for a R30 on top of what you have for where you live
Make sure that the vents in the over hang or soffet air can get over the insulation with the tubes or there is a card board set up you can use there. So the air gets into the attic
You can run the ac or furnace fan all the time for a better temp up and down. Dont put one in that chute to blow up or down into or out of the basementits not worth it. You would just put more humidity in the home that the AC would have to pull out.
The ridge vents just dont seem to work to good around here.
My .02 cents worth
ED
Ridge vents
