Hi,
I just moved into a 1930’s house in North Carolina that has no insulation and no ventilation in it’s unfinished attic. The roof pitch is 4 in 12. The ceiling below is tongue and groove with some gaps you can see light through. I want to keep the ceiling boards. How can I seal the ceiling before blowing in insulation? Could I fasten in plastic vapor barrier? Also there are no vents under the eaves. There are two windows at each end that could be converted to gable vents. What do you recommend?
Thanks,
Chay
Replies
Welcome to BT, first off.
The answer you need may be different fro mthe answer you get <g>
It may depend on where in NC you are. If you are down on the coast, or in a more humid area, you'd want VB to the outside. It may be that lining the stud bays with a craft paper is what you need.
If you talk to an insulator, you may hear that batts are your ticket--but they'll never quite fit your 1930's bay sizes quite right (and there's the whole FG is not good thing, too).
If you are going to ventilate, now's the ime, before the insulation goes in. Now, those windows are giving you light in the attic, which can be nice. I know of an old farm house where they replaced the glass with window screening. That lets light in and ventilates. The cool part is that they have a solid panel hinged on the inside to fill the hole. Come winter time, the panel is swung over the opening and closed with a hook-and-eye latch. Voilà, nice heat-retaining attic.