Attic Tips

Making A Room in the Attic

Brighten Your Attic

Brighten your attic by installing skylights on the north or east slopes of your roof. There are bubble or strip skylights available.

Making an attic into a Room

When is it good to make your attic into another room? If you have the following:

• Ample headroom.
• Makes a reasonable room.
• Has a stairway leading to attic space.
• Floor joists are large enough to support the added load.

Attic Ventilation

Attic Storage

If you are storing holiday decorations in the attic, make sure these items are not obstructing the air flow at soffit or gable vents. Vents should remain open in the winter to allow any condensation that forms to be able to escape outside. Otherwise, moisture will accumulate on your rafters and sheathing and eventually cause them to rot.

Water Moisture In The Home

Make sure your kitchen and baths are vented to the outside of the house. These rooms generate the most moisture in your house. A timer switch on the ventilating fans will help you remember to run the fans long enough to clear out all the moisture, and shut off automatically. Also, if the house walls are not insulated, water vapor will condense on the drywall. Think about installing some needed insulation in these rooms.

Condensation

Dampness is almost unavoidable in new homes because of the gallons of water that went into the construction of foundation walls, basement floors, paint and even bathtub grout.

Although proper ventilation helps speed drying, allow about a year for through curing. Don't hurry the process with high temperatures, unnatural heat can cause warping and other damage. Doing the following can help:

• Open basement windows during warm weather, close when weather is damp.
• Have outside venting for kitchen, bath and utility areas.
• Adjust the humidifier, if there is one in your heating system.
• Consider installing a dehumidifier in extremely damp areas.
• Check sumps periodically.

Insulation

Heat Loss

Remember that heat radiating from bricks melt the snow faster from around your chimney. If you have other melting places on your roof, check the insulation. It may have fallen between your rafters or you might need additional insulation, since you definitely have some heat loss through your roof.

Jobs Most Often Done By Homeowners

• Insulation
• Hanging interior doors
• Interior painting
• Hanging cabinets
• Installing windows
• Hanging exterior doors
• Putting up siding
• Trim and soffit work
• Installing electrical fixtures
• Interior trim work

Ease of Jobs-Rated By Homeowners

• Insulation
• Painting
• Installing electrical fixtures
• Installing windows

Itch Preventer

Try sprinkling baby powder on your exposed face, neck, hands and arm skin before working with fiberglass insulation. The powder keeps the insulation from sticking to your skin and causing any irritation!

Saving Energy

Attic Fan Close Up

Now that you aren't using your whole-house attic fan, its time to unplug the fan or shut off the power to the unit until warmer weather! Cover the fan with polyethylene or something like a large garbage bag. You want to seal out that cool air coming into the house. If your attic is unheated, you could also put some fiberglass insulation over the plastic cover.