Hot Second Floor in Cookeville, TN: Insulation & Ventilation Fix

We got called out to a home in Cookeville, TN because the second floor was hot.

And it had been hot for years.

The homeowner told us this had basically been “undiagnosable.”

That’ll get your attention.

They’d been dealing with it for a long time and wanted somebody to figure out what was actually going on.

Once we got into the attic, we found two things.

Not enough insulation.

And not enough ventilation.

So at least we knew what we were dealing with.

It wasn’t just the insulation

This is where this job got interesting.

We could’ve gone in and just added more insulation.

But that wasn’t the whole problem.

The attic wasn’t ventilating the way it needed to either.

The homeowner actually said it best afterward:

“My problems were both.”

Exactly.

We needed to address both.

So that’s what we did.

We brought the attic up to R38

We blew in cellulose insulation to R38 across the attic.

That took care of the areas that didn’t have enough insulation.

We also installed an Attic Hatch Master at the attic access.

It’s a little detail compared to the rest of the job, but the attic hatch is still part of the attic.

Can’t forget about it.

Then we moved on to the ventilation.

The solar attic fan was the other half

We installed a solar attic fan to help get that trapped attic heat moving out.

No electrical hookup to run.

The sun does the work.

Once everything was finished, we packed up and left.

Then we heard back from the homeowner.

That’s when this one got really good.

He told us the second floor had improved by 8–10 degrees.

Eight to ten.

That’s a difference you can actually feel.

His Google review said we’d diagnosed a “years long second story heat problem” and that the results were better than he expected.

He also came back on Facebook and said:

“My insulation was insufficient, ventilation was insufficient, and you fixed BOTH.”

I liked that.

Because that’s exactly what happened.

This one also qualified for the TVA attic rebate

Another nice part of this Cookeville job was the TVA attic insulation rebate.

The attic work qualified, so the homeowner wasn’t just getting the insulation, ventilation and attic access taken care of.

There was a rebate available too.

Not bad for a problem they’d been dealing with for years.

Come to think of it, that’s probably the thing I’ll remember about this job.

Years of having a hot second floor.

Then we fix the attic and hear back that it’s 8–10 degrees better.

That’s a pretty good phone call to get.

If you’re dealing with a hot second floor or think your attic insulation isn’t keeping up, call Koala Insulation of Upper Cumberland or visit our website for a FREE evaluation!