Insulation, Radiant and Vapor Barriers - Insulation overkill

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bsarch
01-01-09, 11:33 PM
I have a potential silly question to ask. I recent bought a house that, as I further investigate I find the previous owners took a very laid back approach to improving the house. I find many things that I would have taken the extra time to make sure I covered, or completed like the lack of insulation around the perimeter of house at the top of the foundation wall.

Today I added insulation to practically half the perimeter of the house and replaced some old insulation. As I'm thinking now, we have a few cold closets that have blown insulation in the joist space under these closets which doesn't fill the cavity and I closed off the joist space at the interior wall with batt insulation. My question is, would it be best to compress the blown insulation and fill the remainder of the cavity with batt to help keep the cold air from cooling the closets down, or is my thinking of "more is better" overkill?


d00bs
01-02-09, 12:05 AM
Batt insulation wont stop cold air at all. Im not sure i understand your closet problem though. How is it you have access to the joist space underneath them? Normal closets? On the the 2nd floor or in the attic?
If you want to stop cold air you have to use something that is an actual air barrier like foamboard, sprayfoam or tyvek. dense packed cellulose would work too.

10th87desc
01-02-09, 12:15 AM
If I understand correctly, the insulation that is blown into the joist area doesn't fill completely so you have an uninsulated inch or two exposed...? If you can access it and fill that void it would probably be worth it.

One other thought... closets, especially those that have at least one wall that is an exterior wall will normally be cold (or hot in summer) this is because the closet door is normally closed and does not get the benefit of the conditioned air (heat or cooling). A cold (or hot closet) usually has nothing to do with a lack of insulation.

Something related to this is a condition I call "the teenager bedroom phenomena". I have investigated many homes where a particular room is very cold (or hot). this normally happens when a child enters their teen years....For some reason the teen always keeps their bedroom door closed.....The fix is to keep their door open so the conditioned air going into the room can cycle back to the return air duct....sometimes keeping the door open is not an option for the teen or the parent depending on the volume and type of music being played in the teen's room....:AIO:


bsarch
01-02-09, 07:21 AM
As I said, I have been finding wierd conditions in this house since I moved in. This is a ranch style house, and there are two conditions that I'm talking about with the closets. The front cloest bumps into the garage but has no foundation under it and the floor joists continue under them. Two of the three bedroom closets are on the exterioer wall, again bumping out to the exterior. The floor joists extend out with no foundation under them. This gives me the access under them to fill the cavity with insulation. I have some left over faced batt that I may use to fill the cavity full. Thanks.

d00bs
01-02-09, 09:31 AM
Ok now i get it. whatever you do DONT just stuff batts in there alone and expect to have it solve your problem, cause it wont. You need to fill the joist space completely and evenly preferably with more blow in. Insulation only works if there is an uninterrupted contact with the living space surface. If you use the batts make sure not to compress them in any way as it degrades R value.
Important here is that you must isolate and seal off the back and bottom of the closet from the cold air. Use 2 inch thick pink or blue foamboard cut to fit, and then seal around with sprayfoam. If the back wall of the closet is exposed to cold air conditions cover that also with foamboard or housewrap in addition to the fiberglass.
good luck