My Old Workshop | Category Archives: InsulationInsulation Archives

Home improvement and renovation tips

Insulate those trap doors!

If you have a trap door to your attic or crawlspace, it could be a chink in your insulation armor. Make sure you weather strip and insulate it. To insulate a basement or crawlspace trap, cut and glue rigid foam insulation to the underside of the door where it fits between the floor joists. One ...

How to install insulation around electrical wires

When you have wiring and outlet boxes in exterior walls, you need to take a few extra steps when insulating and installing vapor barrier. Electrical boxes have holes which can allow moist air from inside to penetrate through the switchplate cover and back into the cold surfaces beyond the insulation. Obviously, you can't cover the ...

Housewrap hints

Last time we looked at the advantages of housewrap. Now we'll show you how to install it. Manufacturer's instructions may vary a bit, so check them, but these basics should apply most of the time. Install the housewrap before you install windows or doors in the openings. Start at the bottom. In fact, one method ...

Housewrap and what it's for

When you build a house (or an addition), you generally apply sheathing to your wall studs, and then put your siding material over top of that. Another method is to install polystyrene installation over thinner (2x) walls, which helps to improve the overlap of insulation. But either one of these techniques will still allow air ...

Attic ventilation help

We've talked about the importance of attic ventilation in the past. By removing the hot air that sits up above the insulation in the summer, you help to keep your house cooler and protect your shingles. And by allowing the warm air that makes it up there in the winter to escape, you prevent ice ...

How to build a cathedral ceiling (Part 3)

So far we've looked at two techniques for creating your cathedral ceiling. You can install rafter ties (of sufficient strength and at specific prescribed intervals) to replace the conventional ceiling joists. Or you can use a ridge beam of sufficient strength for the particular plan. Your third method is to use scissor trusses. As you ...

How to build a cathedral ceiling (Part 2)

Last time we outlined three methods of constructing a cathedral ceiling. Let's look at some of the relative merits of each. The first option was to install a series of rafter ties to replace the joists that would otherwise be installed in a normal flat-ceilinged room, and which tie the opposite walls together to keep ...

Materials to seal, insulate and keep out the cold

Feeling winter already? It's not too late to snug things up from the inside. Here are a few areas that sometimes get missed.Even if your attic is well-insulated, there may be a few spots that need attention. When they installed your main plumbing stack, it's doubtful they cut a perfectly round hole in the top-plate ...

Avoid moisture damage in your home

Moisture can be the bane of your house. In the past, we've talked about ways to limit it, but here are two areas we haven't touched on.A bathroom exhaust fan has an important job. It draws that excess moisture that's created by hot showers and baths and sends it outside. But it can end up ...

Attic insulation II – more tips

Last time, we talked about the benefits of making sure your attic's well insulated. You stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and you prevent ice damming. You've picked up your insulation and now you're ready to get going.Make sure you have the right tools, a sharp utility knife, a long straightedge, ...