Spray Foam Attic Knee Wall

A knee wall is a short vertical wall roughly two or three feet high that blocks in that useless triangular space.

Spray foam attic knee wall.

You ll need to air seal all the penetrations and leaky spots like joists under the kneewall. Attic knee wall with spray foam scientific diagram. Install blocking in the joist bays below the knee walls to prevent air flow under the knee walls. Third many side attic knee wall areas are very restrictive in accessiblity and working height.

I suggest installing horizontally stacked r 19 unfaced fiberglass batt insulation across the back side anchored to the studs and then covered from roof. If no access hatch into this space is required by other code stipulations there is no requirement for an ignition barrier on the spray foam behind a gypsum board knee wall because there is no access. Spray foam insulation is it a safe choice for your home indoordoctor. Kneewalls short walls under sloped ceilings are common in story and a half homes and in bonus rooms above garages.

Earlier this year i got a question about a home that had spray foam insulation in the attic. Using spray foam to create air barriers on exterior walls lapolla industries inc. Nothing unusual about that. Although kneewalls can help turn attics into living space they often present insulation challenges most builders install fiberglass batts between the studs and some type of blown insulation between the floor joists.

A lot of builders and homeowners are going with spray foam insulation because of the airtightness benefits but then the questioner mentioned that the spray foam contractor had intentionally left big holes to the outside by not sealing the gable vents. If i place vertical runs of r 30 unfaced against the current plastic barrier i d use a perforated barrier to hold them in place. This makes is extremely difficult to install a rigid thermal barrier over the stud framing. If spray foam insulation is used for the wall cavity insulation the spray foam can serve as the air barrier if it is at least 5 5 inches thick if open cell or at least 1 5 inches thick if closed cell spray foam insulation.

The higher the knee wall the greater the amount of useful wall space you create in your finished attic. If you want the attic to be outside then using foamboard on the attic side of the knee wall is a good idea. Intumescent coatings are not always needed to coat spray foam in the attic in order to meet code thermal barrier requirements. Normally in occupied areas all spray foam must be covered by a 15 minute thermal barrier such as thick drywall per code requirements in irc section 316 4 and ibc section 2603 4.

An attic space may be created behind a knee wall when constructing a bonus room in the area typically left as attic space. Diy attic spray foam insulation touch n.