Insulation and Roofing: How Much Room Should I Leave?

Are you finishing off an attic or garage space in your Bartow home? Insulation plays a key role in keeping a room cool in summer and warm in winter. If you’re adding onto your home, you’ll need to insulate the roof area to ensure that the living space beneath it can be conditioned. In homes with a flat roof, installation can complicated. This is because there’s little room between the insulating material and the roof. Your installer should take into account best practices for insulating these spaces.

Insulating an Addition

When it comes to this type of space, insulating is a fairly straightforward process. Because the attic will generally have sufficient space between the insulation and roofing, the installers will not have to be concerned about air circulation between insulation and the floor.

Insulating a Flat Roof

In this scenario, installation is tricky. With little space between the attic floor and roof, special care must be taken to promote ventilation. Your installer may choose to install rigid insulation on top of and below the decking. However, they may choose a dense insulating product like closed-foam cell to minimize the amount of space it will take up. The installer may also use an air barrier to prevent moisture issues. In general, the insulation should be applied to the rafters, with sufficient space below the rafters and above the attic floor. This space will help ensure that air can circulate.

Insulating an Attic or Garage Room

Most often, the attic floor will already be insulated. However, if you’re going to condition this new space, you’ll need to remove the attic floor insulation. The Department of Energy recommends first air sealing the entire space to ensure energy efficiency. The next step involves insulating the knee walls. These are the walls that have storage or empty space behind them. In addition, you’ll want to insulate the rafters. In this case, the insulation should butt up against the roofing. Much like a flat roof, installers will consider the best scenario for ensuring ventilation when selecting insulating materials.

No matter the type of building project, insulation plays a key role in promoting energy efficiency. For help with your insulation project, contact Findlay Roofing today!

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