All:
Great forum and I am learning a lot already. I would appreciate any and all advice you all may have regarding ventilating and insulating my dutch colonial's gambrel roof.
We live in suburban DC in a 2-story dutch colonial and have a 1000 sq ft attic. The roof itself has 1 gable vent on each side and an attic fan. There are no soffits, and there is about 6 inches of cellulose blown in. Being a gambrel roof, the roof slopes sharply downwards to cover the entire second story.
I am trying to :
1. Improve insulation: the second story is much colder than the first story during the winter and I am trying to fix that.
2. Improve attic ventilation: we have cedar shake shingles and I am trying to prolong their life.
I've replaced recessed lighting to insulation compatible fixtures, and am about to blow-in 24 more inches of cellulose. I stapled 4ft polystyrene baffles to the rafter/joist intersections.
I had anticipated going between every other rafter and installing 16" x 8" undereave vents (about 20 total, front and back side of roof).
However, is this a good idea? Specifically:
1. Will air travel through the soffit, through a 2 ft wide x 10ft channel (i.e. the second story) and into the attic?
2. If yes, is this a good thing for insulation? My second story walls are cold during the wintertime already -- so I don't think there is much (any?) insulation in them to start with.
I ask for help -- I had one handyman come out and see -- he said no to questions 1 & 2, and said to just blow insulation into the space between the second story roof/wall, as well as the roof. Regarding ventilation, he basically said gambrels are tough to ventilate.
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!
Warren
Great forum and I am learning a lot already. I would appreciate any and all advice you all may have regarding ventilating and insulating my dutch colonial's gambrel roof.
We live in suburban DC in a 2-story dutch colonial and have a 1000 sq ft attic. The roof itself has 1 gable vent on each side and an attic fan. There are no soffits, and there is about 6 inches of cellulose blown in. Being a gambrel roof, the roof slopes sharply downwards to cover the entire second story.
I am trying to :
1. Improve insulation: the second story is much colder than the first story during the winter and I am trying to fix that.
2. Improve attic ventilation: we have cedar shake shingles and I am trying to prolong their life.
I've replaced recessed lighting to insulation compatible fixtures, and am about to blow-in 24 more inches of cellulose. I stapled 4ft polystyrene baffles to the rafter/joist intersections.
I had anticipated going between every other rafter and installing 16" x 8" undereave vents (about 20 total, front and back side of roof).
However, is this a good idea? Specifically:
1. Will air travel through the soffit, through a 2 ft wide x 10ft channel (i.e. the second story) and into the attic?
2. If yes, is this a good thing for insulation? My second story walls are cold during the wintertime already -- so I don't think there is much (any?) insulation in them to start with.
I ask for help -- I had one handyman come out and see -- he said no to questions 1 & 2, and said to just blow insulation into the space between the second story roof/wall, as well as the roof. Regarding ventilation, he basically said gambrels are tough to ventilate.
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!
Warren