Insulation, Radiant and Vapor Barriers - insulation amateur - advice appreciated
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kuma_jon
06-13-09, 02:50 AM
Hi all,
I've bought a house in Japan's snowy north - Hokkaido. The house has insulation on the four exterior facing walls; old glass wool, but still in good condition. However, there's surprisingly none whatsoever in the attic - this is apparently quite normal insulation practice for houses of the age mine is.
I'm ready to insulate having lived through a winter in the house now - however, a couple of things that I need some pointers with - your thoughts truly appreciated.
The house is 3 stories, quite large for me and my g/f, but we're intending to make it into a backpacker style accommodation (close to Niseko, a famous ski field here) - we only really use the second floor currently - living, kitchen and bedroom.
The first floor is a large concrete garage (5 car! god knows why they needed it that large :) ). There is NO insulation between the concrete ceiling and the flooring of the second story, just a foot high (at its highest point) air cavity, wooden slats, and the upper flooring (tatami mats or wooden flooring with carpet). The second floor and third floor also has no insulation between it, and is very difficult to access given the way they've laid the flooring and fixed the ceiling - very unfortunate. Then we have the attic, very high, possibly 1 meter or more at its highest point due to the necessity to shed snow - ceiling space of about 100 sqm+ - I'd love to just strip it all back and insulate, but am very conscious of costs (I know it would pay for itself in the long run of course - but at the moment it would be a little difficult to afford it all).
My main question really is, would insulating the third floor have any impact on our use of the second floor in reducing costs? - the third floor's quite large, but as I see it, a lot of warm air in winter is drifting up through the 2nd floor living room, into the third floor and being lost outside through the attic, and as it would really be quite difficult at the moment to access the cavity between the 2nd and 3rd floors (without significant expense), this seems to at least resolve part of the problem - or am I fooling myself?
Any other advice, hugely appreciated!
Drinks on me! Beer 4U2
I've bought a house in Japan's snowy north - Hokkaido. The house has insulation on the four exterior facing walls; old glass wool, but still in good condition. However, there's surprisingly none whatsoever in the attic - this is apparently quite normal insulation practice for houses of the age mine is.
I'm ready to insulate having lived through a winter in the house now - however, a couple of things that I need some pointers with - your thoughts truly appreciated.
The house is 3 stories, quite large for me and my g/f, but we're intending to make it into a backpacker style accommodation (close to Niseko, a famous ski field here) - we only really use the second floor currently - living, kitchen and bedroom.
The first floor is a large concrete garage (5 car! god knows why they needed it that large :) ). There is NO insulation between the concrete ceiling and the flooring of the second story, just a foot high (at its highest point) air cavity, wooden slats, and the upper flooring (tatami mats or wooden flooring with carpet). The second floor and third floor also has no insulation between it, and is very difficult to access given the way they've laid the flooring and fixed the ceiling - very unfortunate. Then we have the attic, very high, possibly 1 meter or more at its highest point due to the necessity to shed snow - ceiling space of about 100 sqm+ - I'd love to just strip it all back and insulate, but am very conscious of costs (I know it would pay for itself in the long run of course - but at the moment it would be a little difficult to afford it all).
My main question really is, would insulating the third floor have any impact on our use of the second floor in reducing costs? - the third floor's quite large, but as I see it, a lot of warm air in winter is drifting up through the 2nd floor living room, into the third floor and being lost outside through the attic, and as it would really be quite difficult at the moment to access the cavity between the 2nd and 3rd floors (without significant expense), this seems to at least resolve part of the problem - or am I fooling myself?
Any other advice, hugely appreciated!
Drinks on me! Beer 4U2