In my young and egostical days, I used to fancy myself a close cousin of Martha Stewart. (Well, until she got herself in trouble with the law and then I dropped my fancied family ties faster than a red ant in a summer garden.) But before I get waylaid, I must tell you that this kinship with the Queen of Domesticity had me filling our family calendar with so many social events that my dining room soon began to resemble the local bus terminal with people always coming, and people always going.
During one of those particularly busy social months, in the spring of course, I asked Matthew to fetch me the candles I had stored in the attic. After all, I needed the 12 dozen I had put away from the latest Hobby Lobby 40% off sale. He promptly came back down from the attic and said there were no candles to be found. “Impossible!” I cried. I pulled down the attic stairs and began to search for my boxes of treasures. Ten minutes later, I came across a box of slightly colored, peach blossom-scented waxy, well, goop. Yes, goop.
You guessed it. Hot attic. Box of candles. Now, box of goop.
I had no idea that our attic could reach temps of 140 degrees F and above. Since the house insulation is located between the attic floor and the top floor ceiling, the trapped-attic air is continually heated throughout the day. Not a good environment for family heirlooms, scented candles or even precious Christmas decorations. The solution? Include the attic in the thermal envelope by adding icynene insulation in attic rafters. This will keep your attic within 10 degrees of your home’s indoor temp.
Most people think that this method uses more energy because you are conditioning a larger area in your house. The exact opposite is true. When your attic becomes part of your home’s thermal envelope through icynene insulation, your utility costs will go down. I have included a few pictures here so you can see what icynene insulation looks like. It is blown into the eaves and expands to fill every possible gap. It has been featured many times on HGTV and This Old House. If you’d like to consider icynene for your home, email Matthew (matthew@holtkamphvac.biz). You know he lives to talk about saving energy!
We now have icynene insulation in our Buford attic and I am as cool as a cucumber sandwich on the front porch. But more about that later. Hobby Lobby is having another sale and I heard that candles are 40% off…
Icynene is usually between 2-3 inches thick when fully expanded.
Icynene doesn't look pretty, but it sure does its job of keeping the attic cool!
