IBWino
Recycles dryer sheets
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- May 12, 2006
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- 465
Nords,
I'm very interested in this. Was the radiant foil rolled out over the top of existing attic insulation, or stapled to the rafters overhead?
Supercooler Physics
- Thread starter TromboneAl
- Start date
Nords,
I'm very interested in this. Was the radiant foil rolled out over the top of existing attic insulation, or stapled to the rafters overhead?
"Over the top of existing attic insulation". That's pretty funny. We try to keep the heat from coming down through the attic from the roof into the house rather than rising up from below.
Our house was built in 1989 using "modern" double-wall construction yet it had no insulation. None. (Some newer-- and very expensive-- homes have insulation to lower the A/C bills, but A/C isn't necessary for most of the island.) Over the years as we've opened various walls, we've stuck sheets of the radiant foil into the stud bays.
In the attics I staple the foil to the rafters as close to the roof as I can. The idea is to stop it at the roof and keep it from coming into the attic or warming up the ceilings of the rooms below. I'd start at sunrise (when the attic was still around 70 degrees). The hardest part of the job was making sure that you didn't fall through the attic floor/house ceiling.
Our renovated familyroom is going to have insulation in the walls (hopefully shredded denim or icynene) as well as the ceiling, and double-pane windows. Again this is all designed to keep the heat out (we don't use A/C). It'll also have two ceiling fans to move the air across the peaked ceiling, but we're hoping that it'll stay too cold to turn them on...
IBWino
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- May 12, 2006
- Messages
- 465
@Nords,
Thanks. Here in the Sonoma Co. CA, I need to do both: keep heat in during winter, keep heat out during summer. Therefore, our attic has blown-in loose-fill fiberglass insulation (truly awful stuff to work in, BTW) on the attic floor. The easiest way for me to install a radiant barrier would be to roll it out over the top of the existing insulation. But I believe the best way is to do what you did (staple to the rafters), although I'd have to recruit some help to do it that way. It's definitely a winter project.
Thanks. Here in the Sonoma Co. CA, I need to do both: keep heat in during winter, keep heat out during summer. Therefore, our attic has blown-in loose-fill fiberglass insulation (truly awful stuff to work in, BTW) on the attic floor. The easiest way for me to install a radiant barrier would be to roll it out over the top of the existing insulation. But I believe the best way is to do what you did (staple to the rafters), although I'd have to recruit some help to do it that way. It's definitely a winter project.
