Attic Insulation

[teddyc27]

I an looking at going from 8 inch insulation in my attic to R60 in the next few months. I was wondering roughly what kind of effect this may have on my load calculation? Heat is 52,000 and AC is 18,500.

My house is a single story ranch 1250sf and is located in northern NY.

Just curious what % an attic typically counts for in a load calculation. Thanks

Teddy

[mbarson]

Don't bother adding insulation before air sealing. Air leakage is a larger energy waster than low insulation. Only an energy audit can give you the information about comparing improvements. Ceilings maybe account for 10% of the load. Walls, windows, and the big one infiltration are the largest parts of the load.

[jerryd_2008]

Don't bother adding insulation before air sealing. Air leakage is a larger energy waster than low insulation. Only an energy audit can give you the information about comparing improvements. Ceilings maybe account for 10% of the load. Walls, windows, and the big one infiltration are the largest parts of the load.

Excellent suggestion. Does your electric company offer an energy audit with blower door and infrared scanning? Our electric co-op has an excellent audit for only $100. Did it just to see how good our used house is energy-wise. They will even refund the $100 if you do what they recommend. Take pictures of the bad spots with your digital camera and go back and caulk, caulk, caulk.

We also added 6" of cellulose insulation in the roof over the fiberglass that's there already. It was disturbed from activities up there such as cable guys, new fans, bathroom fan installations, etc. Just don't let them cover your fan exhausts or soffit vents. One added advantage of cellulose is a great sound-proofing.