Attic Is Cold In An Old House

The majority of heat loss and gain occurs in your attic.

Attic is cold in an old house.

Also make sure your attic is ventilated. This answer will vary from old house to old house. Don t avoid ventilating your attic for fear you re letting cold air into the house. The exfiltration of warm interior air through your attic and the infiltration of cold outside air through your basement or crawl space could be to blame.

By chris deziel it may seem incongruous to allow cold air into your attic in the middle of winter but attic venting is an important climatic control that protects your house from moisture rot and. As mentioned most heat loss is typically through the roof. The insulation must meet doe standards. Plan to pull up the flooring and layer new insulation on top of the old.

Due to your attic s location at the top of your house it can be a major location for energy loss especially if you lack sufficient insulation. Your actual living space is sealed and insulated at the attic floor the attic is outside this envelope. Taking advantage of this natural process referred to as passive ventilation is the most common way to vent an. Hot air exhaust vents located at the peak of the roof allow hot air to escape.

Gable vents around 25 each plus 75 per vent for labor can lower attic temperatures about 10 degrees. The insulation materials used in older houses are not as effective in keeping heat in as the new ones. Don t avoid ventilating your attic for fear you re letting cold air into the house. Even if you bought the house with insulation already installed into it it s best to double check.

Since warm air has a tendency to rise and cool air to fall insulating the attic is the place to start. If the attic is unfinished the insulation should be installed on the floor. Read more about the 3 types of heat here. But if the floor is covered in plywood you can t stuff enough insulation beneath it to do the job sufficiently not even in warm climates.

A ridge and soffit ventilation system an extra 200 during reroofing will reduce attic temperature to around 100 degrees. The attic is often the easiest place to add insulation. The answer to making an old house inhabitable is insulation. If you have an unfinished and unconditioned attic like many old houses my first recommendation would be to add batt insulation on the underside of the roof.

Because the simplest and cheapest way to insulate an attic is to add material to the floor. When reroofing use white or pale gray shingles instead of dark ones.