Attic Insulation Upgrade in Livonia, MI

We recently had a homeowner in Livonia reach out about the insulation in their attic. There was insulation up there already, but over time it had settled down to around 8 inches.

We see this quite a bit. The insulation may have been fine years ago, but after sitting up there season after season, it just isn’t giving the home the coverage it once did. And with Michigan weather, you definitely notice when the attic isn’t insulated as well as it could be.

This one didn’t need to be torn apart or completely started over. It just needed some attention.

Adding Blown-In Fiberglass Over the Existing Insulation

For this attic, we were able to leave the existing insulation in place and add blown-in fiberglass insulation over the top of it.

Our goal was to bring the attic up to approximately R-49, so we added what was needed to get there and made sure we had nice, even coverage across the attic.

This is a pretty common job for us. A lot of homeowners assume that if they have insulation in the attic, they’re good. But when you actually get up there and start measuring, sometimes there isn’t nearly as much as they thought.

Eight inches of settled insulation is a lot different than having the attic properly filled.

Making Sure We Didn’t Block the Airflow

Before adding all that fiberglass, we also had to take care of the ventilation.

The attic already had baffles, but they needed to be extended. We did that first so we could blow in the additional insulation without covering the areas where air needs to come in through the soffits.

It’s one of those parts of an insulation job you don’t really see once we’re finished.

But it matters.

We want plenty of insulation out toward the edges of the attic, while still leaving room for air to move where it’s supposed to. So, we extended the baffles, got everything where we wanted it, and then finished blowing in the fiberglass.

We Took Care of the Attic Hatch Too

The attic hatch was another area we worked on while we were there.

We added insulation to the hatch and installed weather stripping around it. Attic access points can let quite a bit of air through when they don’t seal tightly, and there’s no point in improving the rest of the attic and then leaving the hatch alone.

Nothing fancy. Just another area that needed to be addressed as part of the job.

By the time we wrapped up, this Livonia attic had gone from roughly 8 inches of settled insulation to around R-49, the baffles were extended to keep the ventilation open, and the attic hatch was insulated and weather stripped.

That’s a much better setup heading into another Michigan winter — and it will help during the warmer months too.

This is exactly the kind of attic work we handle at Koala Insulation of Greater Ann Arbor. Sometimes you don’t need to remove everything that’s already there. You just need to figure out what the attic is missing and fix those areas.

If you’re in Livonia, Brighton, Ann Arbor or the surrounding area and you’re not sure how much insulation you actually have left in your attic, call us or visit our website for a FREE evaluation!