Hello All,
I know the 2nd floor of my 125 year old house is above a heated space and isn’t supposed to need insulation, but I made a hole in it to route some wires through and felt a draft in there between the joists.
Is that draft just convection or an old leaky house? Would insulation or even just foam sealant make the floor warmer? If so, what would be a relatively non-invasive way of doing it?
p.s. I never seem to see the floor above a heated space addressed in any energy efficiency/insulation articles.
Replies
proabaly an uninsulated band joist.. ie: if you have 2x8's for 2d floor joists , you may have a 7" area all the way around your house that is uninsulated and very drafty
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
This may well be a common problem, and not just in old houses. The rim joist area between floors often goes uninsulated, so there is a band around the perimeter of the house about 12" high that can get pretty cold.
I'd like to know how the good builders out there correct this. Spray foam, maybe?
Your drafts could also be caused by air moving vertcally up to the attic through penetrations through the stud cavities. These might be easier to seal.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
at the band joist / header joist.. we put foam blocking in to create a 12" box... then blow it with dens-pak cells..
at the end bays ( ist & last joist ) we block that off and blow it with dens-pak..
this can be blown after the ceiling is in place by drilling the sub-floorMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
When you tqlk of densepack are you using dry cellulose, blown in till the blower slows? The blower I can get from HD or Lowes has a 3" opening, can I taper it down with PVC joints to `1 1/2' or so? I can get into the top of the wall stud spacer through the top plate if I can go that small. I don't want to cut into the finished wall if I can help it Thanks Dickd.
yes.. you can reduce to 1 1/2" i've even reduced to 1".. 1 1/2" works better.. open up the air... you need to blow a thin mix to get it to packMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
A house this old is very likely to bne balloon framed too. Drafts flow freely.
Excellence is its own reward!
Like Piffin said.....Is this house balloon framed and if so, have the walls been blown with cellulose?