About a month ago, I wrote about helping a friend add cellulose insulation to his attic.  It is a very reasonable weekend project, depending on the size of your house and your willingness to take on new projects.  The price was also much less than I anticipated.

If you have a sufficient amount of attic insulation or your budget won’t allow you to add to your existing insulation, take a couple of hours to see how evenly distributed the insulation is in your attic.

One problem we found in my friend’s house when adding the insulation was a section above a bedroom that had no insulation.  That’s right, the installer had done a poor job of evenly distributing the cellulose above the ceiling. 

Sometimes its not the installer but strong winds or animals that get into the attic can move insulation around causing the bare spots.

When there is a bare spot where insulation should be, the “hole” acts like a chimney — in the summer warm air from the attic impacts the temperature below.  Using an infrared laser thermometer, there was a 6-8 degree (farenheit) temperature difference between the area of the bare spot and an area with sufficient insulation.  Not only did this drastically impact the comfort of the room, but it caused the house to be unevenly cooled and made the HVAC system run inefficiently.

The solution?  First gather a few items to take into the attic:

• Plywood walkboards to lay across the rafters
• Goggles
• Dust mask
• Gloves
• Yardstick or other measuring device
• Broom

Now go into the attic and, using the walkboards for safety, the broom, and the yardstick, measure the depth of insulation in various areas and fill in any bare or thin spots by sweeping insulation from a thicker area.

If you find numerous spots where the insulation is thin, consider buying a small portion of insulation rather than merely moving from one location in the attic to another.

By correcting the bare spots in your attic you’ll make your house much more comfortable.  The temperature will be much more even through the house, and your electric bill will be reduced in the process.

Photo credit:  lissalou66