The Good and the Bad of Blown-in Attic Insulation

by Mark Row

Blown-in Attic Insulation - Pro et Contra

If you are planning on expanding your home that is adding some living space to it, this might be the perfect time to take care of your attic. Namely, if you are dealing with a lot of unused attic space and have decided to finally do something about it, note that this may require a few more things than you have initially planned. Basically, attic spaces, since placed directly under the roof, are usually most subject to exterior effects such as abrupt temperature changes, which can all affect the usability of the attic space. This simply means that turning your attic into a living room will mean nothing without proper insulation added, because you will only end up with an area that will be steaming hot during the summer and freezing cold during the winter, which will further on drastically increase your initial remodeling costs.

If you have taken the previously said seriously, you have probably calculated in adding insulation to your attic space. The only thing left to do is choose the best insulation material. What we would like to emphasize at this point is the fact that there is no such thing as perfect insulation, since each material has its good and bad sides and works better in some application that in others. Keeping this in mind, it is important to know what you can expect from your insulation material and then decide what you are going to insist on. Some materials are easier to install while others are much more effective, but also more expensive. When insulating you attic, there are a few options out there. You can opt for any of the following:

• rock or mineral wool, or sheep wool is the most commonly used insulation material due to its versatility and a number of different applications. When added to the loft space, it is usually added between the roof joists, basically rolled from one end to the other and secured to the joists on both sides, making sure that there are no gaps and that the material is not in any way compressed.
• rigid insulation boards are another option that is easily installed and offers great insulation for your attic. The boards can be found in many forms including PIR, PUR or phenolic boards which are simply bonded to a flat surface offering a neat and clean look of your attic space.
• Finally, the option whose pros and cons will be discussed here is blown-in attic insulation. Its name speaks for itself – the insulation material is just blown-in using a special equipment thus filling out the space in no time. But, let’s take one step at the time and talk about the good and the bad of blown-in attic insulation.

The Good

Some positive side of blown-in attic insulation which can be usually found in the form of fiber glass or more natural cellulose insulation, include the following:

• Since being one of the most commonly used materials, there are not many things that can come as a surprise with this type of insulation, resulting in a reliable solution for your loft space. If you choose the proper professional contractor that has experience in adding this type of insulation, he will most likely know what are potentially weak points and deal with them in time.
• It is very easy to install. Although it involves hiring a professional, depending on the size of your attic space, the job can be done in the matter of hours (always being a one day job) leaving no mess for you to deal with upon installation.
• Another important advantage of blown-in insulation is its price since it is among the cheapest insulation materials, of course, always depending on the quality and the manufacturer.
• If done right, it leaves no space for mistakes such as gaps in insulation, resulting in lower thermal and acoustic performance, which can be a problem with some other insulation materials.
• Finally, the insulation process allows for another layer of insulation to be added (such as the mentioned mineral wool) on top of the installed insulation, again resulting in much better performance and more adequate protection.

The Bad

Now, let’s move on to some weak points of blown-in attic insulation, which may include:

• Although initially less expensive than the alternative insulation materials, it may involve some additional costs during insulation, deriving from the fact that it should be installed by a professional and it is usually required for the material to be upgraded with some other insulation in order of satisfying the prescribed values, which again increases the overall expenses.
• Although effective, blown-in insulation has much lower R values when compared to some alternatives such as rock wool or rigid insulation boards.

Finally, even if the job of adding this type of insulation to your attic space is done perfectly, there is still a chance that it will not be evenly spread to the entire attic space, resulting in different R values achieved in different areas of the attic space, which is something you most definitely want to avoid since it can decrease the overall effectiveness of the material.

For more information about alternative loft insulation materials, or which ones are perfect for your insulation projects, please read related blog articles and product descriptions on our website, and feel free to contact us with your questions.