Insulating a Finished Attic

Insulating a finished attic is no more complicated than working in an unfinished one, except for getting to the places you must insulate. You will have to cut out passageways in the ceiling and side –or knee – walls.

Once you have gained access thought the knee walls to the outer unfinished attic floor, you insulate for unfinished attic floors. Batts also are installed behind knee walls and on top of the level ceiling. Batts cannot be used for the sloping sections of ceilings because roofing nails are likely to rip them. Instead, throw loose fill into this space from above the flat ceiling. This can only be done after installing the batts behind the knee wall so the tops of the batts will keep the loose fill from falling behind the knee wall. If your attic space is too small to maneuver in, blow in loose fill.

A well insulated attic room.

Batts should be installed in all the outer attic space you can get to: above the flat attic ceiling, behind the low knee walls, and between the joists of the attic floor beyond the knee walls. Then loose fill can be dropped down the hard-to-reach sloped ceiling. Unless you left passageways to the outer attic when you finished the room, cut access panels on the ceiling and knee walls.