Insulated Exterior Walls And Attic Floor Now Basement Seems Colder

In most cases a basement with insulation installed on its exterior walls should be considered a conditioned space.

Insulated exterior walls and attic floor now basement seems colder.

With cold air inside the wall and warm air on each side in the house heat moves through the drywall which has a low r value and warms up the air in the cavity. The insulation on the floor of your attic needs to have an approved vapor barrier installed on the warm in winter side of the insulation. Now that the house is properly sealed it is crucial to verify the attic s thermal insulation is adequate and properly installed. This makes the attic colder and a colder attic with moisture leaking from the house can result in condensation mold and wood rot.

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. Insulating your exterior walls in a cold climate is very important and ultimately should be done but it must be done wisely. You can go into the attic and look down into the interior walls and see the drywall. That means that cold attic air gets down into those cavities.

How bout adding another radiator in our bedroom i have two exterior walls and only one radiator. There s a radiator prior to coming up the stairs in the hallway on the first floor. Basement insulation mold busting strategy 3. Cold air rushes in on the ground floor to replace whatever is lost.

It can travel in through masonry walls and floors in the form of liquid or vapour but it can also come from humid air inside the basement itself. Even in a house with an unconditioned basement the basement is more connected to other living spaces than to the outside which makes basement wall insulation preferable to ceiling insulation. Old houses often have no building wrap or the wrap is 100 year old felt or kraft paper that has begun to degrade. Moisture can invade a basement from two directions.

It s a weird setup in this house. Tariq dec 23 13 at 20 40. Warm spaces have less condensation risk than colder space so when you add insulation to the attic floor you re intentionally blocking some of that heat from keeping the attic warm. Blowing insulation in a wall cavity willy nilly is a sure fire way to create rot and mold issues.

Use carpeting some floor materials are naturally colder than. One radiator is along side an interior wall and not under the window of my sons room. In most cases rolled or batt insulation will have a vapor barrier already.