Hi. I’m new here, and I’ve got a problem with very cold bedrooms in part of my house. ( I live on Long Island; we’ve got warm humid summers and fairly cold winters. ) The rooms are on a second floor, but in a part of the house that is dormered so that the side walls are not exposed to the outside but to the “attic” above the first floor. The walls and floor adjacent to these kneewall areas (they are actually almost full-height) are freezing. I understand ( I think) the basics of thermal and vapor barriers and proper ventilation under a normal one- or two-story condition. What I can’t figure out is how to treat the quasi-attic spaces adjacent to my second-floor living space. Where is the thermal barrier? And how do you properly vent the roof?
I have already taken the steps of changing all the recessed lighting to ICATs and having about 15″ of loose-fill blown in above the second floor, but this attic area is basically continuous with the knee-wall area, since there is no blocking or insulation dam in the rafter bays (the blown-in insulation is held in place kind of tenuously). I have access to the knee-wall area through some little doors, and I’ve been using it for storage, since there is a plywood floor. I guess this is conditioned space, sort of, since the insulation is in the roof rafter bays, not the first floor ceiling. So there is this quasi-conditioned space continuous with the definitely unconditioned attic above. What do I do about this? There are also 1-1/2″ soffit vents drilled into every bay of the rafters, so it seems that this lets outside air into a conditioned space, and furthermore, since these are right at the level of the first-floor ceiling, that this is why the floors on the second floor are so cold. Should these vents be plugged? But will this then not allow for convective airflow to vent the insulation? Maybe I should instead move the insulation into the first-floor ceiling bays and seal up the joint between the knee wall and the floor. But then it’s a cold roof and I won’t be able to use the storage area?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Replies
bump
Bump?? Doesn't sound particularly helpful or friendly. Translation, please? As you know, I'm new here.
I'll answer for Rez...........if you post here and 'we' see that there are no responses in a while (looks like your first response took a bit), one of 'us" may 'bump' the thread back up into the daylight, or it may disappear for ever, and you will not have gotten an answer.
So............it was VERY friendly AND helpful for Rez to bump you.
Stick around!
EricI Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
Oops. My bad. Sorry, and thanks.
Either you insulate the roof, or you insulate the knee wall and floor beyond. Ventillation can be a problem, and retrofitting vapor barriers can also be a problem. Requires creativity.
I have a room upstairs of my house which was never set up for heating.
Last year I decided enough of this, and tore out the lath & plaster walls. I was able to add a 2x4 behind the 2x3 studs, and I put in R-28, a vapour barrier of 6mm Poly and then new drywall over top. Walls are OK now.
Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
There is a ton of info on the Web about insulating generally and knee walls in particular.
I did a Google search "insulation knee walls" -- and this was the first one on the list, which has all the info and illustrations you will need to figure out what to do.
http://www.ibacos.com/pubs/FactSheet-KneeWalls.pdf -
Thanks. I will re-post if/when I have some more specific questions.