Insulating Cape Cod Attic Without Soffit

Our home is a cape cod 1 1 2 stories with living space on both.

Insulating cape cod attic without soffit.

I ve insulated the kneewalls with rigid foam board and am moving upwards toward the attic. I have a cape cod style home in sacramento california read. Older cape cod style homes may be charming but they are often poorly insulated. Insulating and venting when there is no roof soffit.

Details needed for cape cod roof ceiling insulation placement materials. Blown insulation in the knee wall and top attics. Because it s hard to insulate these areas many capes leak heat at the eaves a recipe for ice dams. In most residential homes the soffit and associated vents is the structural part of the roof that hangs over the side of the home.

The type of attic i m talking about is found in a two story house not a 1 1 2 story house like yours. Kneewalls against the sloped ceilings. The principle behind soffits is to allow air to circulate in and around the attic. Purchased a cape cod house last spring in penna the only attic ventilation is a 24 x24 vent at the peak on each side and one of the vents has a fan that runs most of the summer.

1959 cape cod in university heights. Insulating and ventilating cape cod or 1 story houses can be very challenging. How do i insulate the sloped ceiling between the kneewall and the attic floor. Anyone who has lived in one of these types of houses knows how uncomfortable they can be in both the summer and winter months.

Its basically just a cavity between the underside of the roof deck and the drywall of the room. We want to fix up the attic space to be a good looking useable comfortable bedroom. This creates triangular attic spaces behind the kneewalls. Without insulating the walls.

I was thinking of the type of attic shown in the illustration below. It has a new roof with a ridge vent and soffit vents. But we do not want to cause any vapor damage to a very nice historic home by improperly insulating it. Insulating kneewall roof in cape cod.

I m going to be replacing the roof this spring and would like to improve the ventilation there is no overhang so i can t install soffit venting without some modifications. 13 september 2015 wendy said. Building and insulating knee walls option a at page top requires a larger insulated area so it is actually more costly to heat a building with this design. I am going to climb up in the attic knee walls and check open up the soffit tomorrow to get a better idea of what is going on up there.

You have a cape cod house so it s too late for you to design a house with an old fashioned unconditioned attic above all of the living space. The problems associated with these homes are a result of poor architectural design and not improper installation of the roofing or insulation. Many of the post war cape cod houses are narrower and are much tougher to work in.