Warm Roof Vs Cold Roof Insulation For Homes With Converted Attics
Adding roof insulation to your home is one of the easiest and most effective ways to make your household more environmentally friendly, and can help you save considerable amounts of cash with lower heating and air conditioning bills. However, insulating your roof effectively can be more complicated if your attic has been converted into an additional room or living space.
Roof insulation configurations can be divided into two camps. Warm roof insulation is installed on top of the attic's floor deck, and on the underside of the roof itself. Cold roof insulation is installed between the joists of the attic's floor deck.
Both insulation types are highly effective at preventing unwanted heat transfer through your roof. However, each type of insulation comes with its own advantages and drawbacks that you should be aware of, especially if you live in a home with a converted attic space.
Should You Choose Warm Roof Insulation For Your Converted Attic?
Warm roof insulation is so called because it provides your attic space with the same level of insulation as the rest of your home. As insulation is installed in both the floor and roof space of the attic, the attic space itself is thoroughly insulated.
This makes warm roof insulation very useful for attic spaces that have been converted into bedrooms, home offices, playrooms or other rooms that will see regular use. Converted attics insulated with warm roof insulation can be heated and cooled as easily as the rest of your home.
Warm roof insulation is also much easier to install than cold roof insulation if your attic has already been converted. Because cold roof insulation is installed between floor joists, any carpets, floorboards or other floor coverings will need to be removed before it can be installed, leaving your converted attic uninhabitable until the work has been completed.
However, because warm roof insulation is installed above the attic's floor deck, it will raise the floor level significantly. In converted attics with steeply angled roofing and plenty of headroom, this shouldn't be a problem, but smaller attics under shallow or low-slope roofs can become cramped. Raising the floor level can also cause accessibility problems if your attic has an adjoining balcony or upper-storey extension.
Should You Choose Cold Roof Insulation For Your Converted Attic?
Cold roof insulation is integrated into the floor deck inside your attic and does not include insulation of the roof covering. As a result, cold roof insulation will leave your converted attic vulnerable to heat exchange during hot or cold weather. It will still provide excellent heat insulation for the rest of your home.
Cold roof insulation can make it very difficult to keep your converted attic at a stable temperature, and converted attics with cold roof insulation should not be linked to any multi-room HVAC systems used inside your home. However, this may not be a problem if your attic has been converted into a room that is not used regularly and does not require precise climate control, such as a laundry room or walk-in storage space.
Cold roof insulation also requires significantly less insulation material than warm roof insulation, especially in larger attics. While removing any floor coverings to install it will add to installation costs, cold roof insulation will still cost less than warm roof insulation, particularly if you choose a more expensive insulation material such as natural wool.