Should you insulate your attic with fiberglass, cellulose or spray foam?
Let's talk about it.
Welcome to Foam University. Today we're going to be discussing your best options
for insulating your attic. We're going to be talking about
fiberglass, cellulose, and spray foam. Before we get into that,
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Thank you. First. fiberglass. So, first let's take a look at fiberglass.
Now, fiberglass in my opinion is a good enough option.
What you would typically see with the fiberglass install is,
fiberglass would be on the floor of the attic and you would have venting put in,
in the soffit going up to the ridge of the attic, possibly gable vents also,
but that's what you would have, a traditional attic insulation setup,
insulation on the floor as well as venting throughout.
Now again fiberglass like i said, is good enough. You would typically see
a single layer fiberglass put in, and then over the years you will
usually see a homeowner add layers to that fiberglass.
For several reasons. One, over time that fiberglass can start to break down and
actually diminish over time. So you want to add to that to get it
back up as far as efficiency and effectiveness.
Now also if any pests or rodents get inside that attic space,
that fiberglass can get torn up really easily and it can retain odors and weird
stuff like that. So, again another reason you may want to
replace or add to that fiberglass later, as well as potential moisture issues
that could come in and be present in the attic space.
That could also cause damage to that fiberglass as well as just air flow
causing the fiberglass to shift and break down a little bit.
All reasons why you may want to add to or replace that fiberglass
over the years. Second cellulose. So next we're going to take a look at
cellulose as an option for insulating your attic.
Now again this is usually going to be a traditional attic setup
where you put fiberglass on the floor. You would also put
cellulose on the floor of your attic and have venting put in place again, usually
in the soffit and ridge or potentially gable vents. So with
cellulose compared to fiberglass cellulose would be a better option.
it has better resistive capabilities as far as thermal resistance.
It can tend to last a little bit longer however.
Cellulose still has some of the downfalls, being that it will shift over
time. So if you have loose blown cellulose in
the floor of your attic, any air flow or drafts that come into
your attic will push cellulose up against the walls, the soffits, any
type of corner or structure that's in the attic. You will often times look up
in there and see cellulose that is banked up or
drifted up against those ledges or edges. And now
if you have an unlevel or low place where that cellulose needs to be raked
back, or you may have to add layers to that
cellulose over the years because it has broken down,
either through pest damage or moisture damage, things like that.
Over the years you will want to add layers to that cellulose to get it
back up to that peak performance. So again if you're looking at this,
cellulose can be a better option for you. Third spray foam. So now if you're
looking at using spray foam to insulate your attic
this is where things can be a little untraditional.
So you can always put spray foam on the floor of your attic and have your
standard vents, either you know, soffit ridge gable vents, you can use
that system absolutely. However, when it comes to
spray foam you will often times see homeowners
putting the spray foam right onto the roof deck itself. Actually sealing
off the soffit, sealing off the ridge going to a completely unvented attic
system. That's usually what we recommend any
time we do an attic, whether that's an existing house that's been there for a
hundred years, or a new built house that was just put
up this year. Usually an unvented system is the
recommended way to go. Now obviously some strong benefits with
spray foam. It's an air seal. It establishes that building envelope on
the outermost layer of the building, which is crucial. We always talk about
establishing that. Next it is the best performing
installation when it comes to thermal resistance.
Actually stopping that heat transfer, that hot air from getting out in the
winter, that hot air on the outside from baking
into the attic in the summertime. Spray foam does that job very, very well.
Now obviously the con to spray foam is that it will be the most expensive
product out there. That comes anytime you're looking at
spray foam. It's usually going to be the most expensive,
but like we said it performs the best, and
unlike the other things that we've mentioned, you will never have to
add layers, to re-rake or anything like that.
With spray foam, because it is a one and done solution, you put it in place
and it is warranted to stay there for the lifetime of the building.
So keep those things in mind when you're considering spray foam.
Now let's compare all these products. So now let's look at all three products.
So really if you're looking at fiberglass, cellulose and spray foam, we
look at this as a good, better, best type of situation. Fiberglass,
it is the least expensive, it can be a DIY
option if you want to do it yourself, but it will require some things. So keep
that in mind and it also is the least effective. Bumping up a little bit to
cellulose, again you see a little bump up in cost, you still
require some of that maintenance, can also be a DIY project but again
not quite peak performance. So keep those things in mind.
Now if you're looking at spray foam again, now you're looking at the top end
of performance. Zero maintenance but it does come with
the highest ticket cost. So if you can afford the cost of spray
foam that will be the clear obvious answer to you. So keep
all these things in mind when you're considering
what's best for you and your attic. If you want to learn more about the best
option to insulate your attic, please check out the link below.
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