Should I Insulate The Ceiling Between Floors

During energy audits we get into a lot of building shell discussions should i insulate my basement or should i insulate my interior walls to pick two completely random questions that i totally haven t written about.

Should i insulate the ceiling between floors.

With the floor gone you ll have to find a spot elsewhere for stashing those off season clothes and that holiday decor. I am in process of learning as much as i can about tight houses air quality mold control humidity control. The illustration above shows all the areas of the home where there should be insulation. Between the ceiling of the ground floor and the floor of the second storey.

The numbered areas shown in the illustration are as follows. One of the most common questions i get on energy audits. Insulation between floors should i insulate in climate zone 3 you are at 3 air changes per hour which is a very tight house. In unfinished attic spaces insulate between and over the floor joists to seal off living spaces below.

As mentioned in the beginning it is not just important to answer should there be insulation between floors but what type of insulation as well. If you re building or renovating a double or multi storey house then there may be good reason to considering insulating the mid floor i e. We insulate our roof and we insulate our walls but can you insulate between two floors within a house to reduce noise. At first blush it makes some kind of sense.

Let s take a closer look at insulating a finished basement ceiling for both temperature and noise protection. The question of whether you should insulate between floors is remarkably similar to that of insulating interior walls. Should i insulate my basement ceiling the interior floors feel cold the house is warm the basement is cold insulation slows heat loss so i should insulate my basement ceiling right customer looks at me for affirmation. In the uk most of us live in a cold climate.

Putting insulation between the ground and first floor should in theory stop sound vibration and heat from moving between levels in your property. The building shell to understand the pros and cons of insulating your finished basement ceiling we first need to talk about the concept of a building shell think about all your home s exterior walls including the top floor. Plan to pull up the flooring and layer new insulation on top of the old. Actually it s nowhere near that simple.

But if the floor is covered in plywood you can t stuff enough insulation beneath it to do the job sufficiently not even in warm climates.