Bob meets up with structural engineer Steve Siegel on the Medford's home third floor. The attic is right from the 1880's and clearly no longer meets code. As the homeowner intends to create a home office up there with cathedral ceilings, structural changes will be required. Steve explains that the existing structure is undersized and will need to be reinforced. The 2 x 6 rafters are pretty widely spaced at 2 feet on center with flimsy 2 x 3 collar ties. To create useable living space Steve suggests taking out the existing collars and putting in a ridge beam to support the whole load of the roof. To do this Siegel would put a piece of wood (possibly a 2 x 6) at every rafter pair and then position the ridge beam just below. However, this configuration might conflict with the architect's plan to fill the whole gable end with a big glass triangle.
Bob watches the crew from Anderson Insulation as they insulate an attic space that's being converted into a teenager's room. Owner Eric Anderson shows Bob the Owens Corning products used in the job. First, they fill interior walls and floors with QuietZone, a sound attenuation batt.
Australian-born architect and homeowner, Gavin Langley, shows Bob how attics are insulated in his home country. Down Under, insulation is installed between rafters and above the ceiling. This arrangement reduces summer heat gain while reducing winter heat loss. In this project the ceiling gets a six-inch layer of R-19 fiberglass insulation. Bob and Gavin also discuss the budget.
If you need to insulate your attic, blowing in cellulose insulation is an easy job you can do yourself by renting a machine at your local lumberyard. To install the insulation, blow the cellulose in up to the level of your floor joists. Cellulose is made from recycled newspaper and treated with Borax, a natural pest repellent and fire retardant. For best results, be sure to distribute the cellulose in an even layer. In an attic with two-by-six joists, you can achieve an insulation factor of R-19.
TechShield radiant barrier sheathing can help homeowners conserve energy by keeping up to 97 percent of the sun's radiant heat from entering the attic. TechShield, the only radiant barrier sheathing with post-lamination incising, effectively allows moisture to escape from the foil side of the board should it get wet. Studies have shown that using a radiant barrier can effectively reduce the amount of energy required to cool the home by up to 20 percent. And TechShield radiant barrier sheathing adds no additional time or labor costs to the construction, because the foil is already laminated to the board.
There are two kinds of walls: Bearing walls and non-bearing walls. Knowing which can be critical. You can do anything you like to a non-bearing wall, but if you remove or even cut open a bearing wall, you can literally bring down the house. Check the joists or rafters in your basement or attic; if they run perpendicular to the wall in question, it is almost certainly a bearing wall. If they run parallel, it is not.
The type and shape of the roof on your home can help determine how well it will perform during a severe windstorm. A hipped roof is one that slopes upward from all sides of the building. Because of its aerodynamic properties and construction techniques, most hipped roofs will perform better in windstorms than the second roof type: a gabled roof. A gabled roof has two slopes that come together to form a ridge or a peak at the top, each end looks like the letter A. Homes with gabled roofs are more likely to suffer greater damage, such as collapse of the end wall from high winds because they are often not braced properly during construction. If your home is built with a gabled end wall, use one of the following construction techniques. Continuous wall construction or Balloon framing. Use full-height studs, concrete or solid masonry walls from the floor below all the way up to the roof. Balloon-framed gable end walls perform better in windstorms because they do not have the hinge that usually exists where the triangular part of the gable sits on top of the wall below. Platform framing. Brace the intersection of the gable and the end wall. This intersection is a particularly weak point and those that are not properly braced can collapse, causing major damage to the roof, allowing wind and wind driven rain into the home. In homes with attics, an attic floor or ceiling diaphragm with the proper bracing techniques can be used to provide the lateral support of the gable end wall if the end wall is framed full height. Install bracing along the top and the bottom of the gable end. In addition, connect the gable end to the top of the end wall using metal hurricane connectors. In homes with high cathedral-like ceilings, where there is no ceiling to brace the gabled end, will have to be balloon framed or will require a special design by a registered or licensed engineer.
