When Should I Replace Attic Insulation?

LESLIE: Stuart is on the line with an insulation question. How can we help you today?

STUART: I’m wondering at what point in a house life should you look at the insulation in your attic and reinsulating.

TOM: Well, if you have insulation that’s old and you notice that it’s sort of sagging and compressed and no longer fluffy, at that point I would remove the insulation and replace it. If you’ve got insulation that’s still pretty fluffy and it holds a lot of air but you just don’t have enough of it, then you can add additional layers on top of that.

You do that with unfaced fiberglass batts. You lay them in perpendicular to the existing insulation to try to get up to that, say, 15- to 20-inch level of insulation. Because at that level, you’re going to be super-insulated and it’s really going to make a big savings in your heating costs.

STUART: OK. But if it’s flat, it needs – removed before you put further insulation on top of it. It needs to have a little bounce to it, I guess.

TOM: If it’s old and it’s flat and it’s compressed and it’s sagging, then I would take it out and start from scratch.

STUART: Hey, thank you very much. I appreciate your time.