Faced Or Unfaced Insulation In Attic Floor

I ve always said adding insulation to your attic is some of the best money you can spend to make your house more energy efficient but whether to use faced or unfaced insulation is a great question.

Faced or unfaced insulation in attic floor.

Kraft faced or paper faced insulation comes in batts and long rolls. Run the unfaced strips perpendicular to the. Whether using loose fill or batts put the vapor barrier closest to the warm side of your installation where hot moist air would get in facing the house s interior in cold climates beneath floor insulation and the attic s interior in hot climates on top of floor insulation. Basement finished exterior walls.

Roll insulation is best for floors ceilings and roofs with a long joist or rafter bays and for tall walls. Faced or the type with paper is typically used in first time applications such as in walls ceilings floors and in crawl spaces. Like blanket or batt insulation foam board comes in faced and unfaced varieties. The kraft paper on one side of faced insulation keeps moisture from spreading throughout the walls or ceiling.

When local building codes require a vapor retardant faced insulation is one of the best options. Any time you use a faced insulation the paper needs to be facing toward the living space. The batts are precut to fit into cavities on standard 8 foot high walls. All kraft faced insulation is easy to cut with a sharp utility knife or insulation knife.

Unfaced batt insulation is often used for beefing up the r rating with the r rating being the insulation rating scale that says how much or how effective insulation needs to be in that space. It means ensuring that it s the right product for your space. The kraft paper. The same applies to faced unfaced and other kinds of insulation products.

Air migrates from warmer spaces toward colder spaces and insulation is designed to help prevent or at least slow that migration. Attic ceiling insulation 32 basement wall insulation 18 blow in insulation 1 ceiling 19 certainteed 1 exterior wall 79 floor 38 floors crawl 56. What is the right insulation for an attic. If there is already insulation between the joists increase the r value by installing unfaced roll insulation right on top.

Insulation being unfaced doesn t mean it s a bad choice. If your attic floor has no insulation install faced batts or faced rolls between each joist with the moisture barrier facing down against the drywall or plaster ceiling below. Insulation in rolls called batts comes in two varieties.