Hello,I have a cape style home and the second floor gets ridiculously hot in the summerThe attic is well insulated but it is still really hot upstairsCentral air is too expensive so I'm trying to find more cost effective ways to cool the house down a bitI was thinking of installing a ridge vent, an attic fan (that blows exhuast outside of home) or a house fan that pulls air from the house and blows into atticThe problem with the ridge vent is that I don't think the eaves are vented property to get the system to work efficiently.So from your experience, which is most effective (aside from air conditioning)
With insulation, the thicker and fluffier the betterInsulation will fluff up some out of the packageYou might consider blow in insulationThe Home Depot store here rents a machine quite cheaply to blow it in and it's better because it fills every cranny and can be put in 12 or 16 deepIf you do it though, be sure to put in the little cardboard fences they sell to keep the insulation from going over into your soffitt spacesYou don't want to block off free air movement through your soffitt vents.
at the start you may desire to appreciate this, being your abode became geared up earlier 1978 that insulation would have in line with-lite that's a asbestos additive became put in with insulation, Now they have machines you could lease which will get rid of all that insulation and blow it right into a dumpsterverify the internet we use those device as quickly as we've a house that had a fire and we would desire to get rid of the smoke broken insulation and replace it with newadditionally it somewhat is advisable to envision the hot EPA regulations that are popping out on April 22, 2010 you will would desire to make effective theres no lead base paints too.
A ridge vent will help, but eve ventilation is importantIf it is inadequate you should increase it.Also, make sure that insulation is not blocking the end of the rafters by the roof deck.You should have 1 sqfoot of free air ventilation for 300 sqfeet of floor space as an absolute minimum.You may also be able to add gable vents above the ceiling joists.An attic fan controlled by a thermostat/humidistat will also help.Have it exhaust to the sunny side, so it draws air from the shady,cooler side.Don,t blow hot,moisture laden air into the attic unless it can escape!
