Every attic is different but a few established norms and practices will guide your renovation.
Cape cod with gable walk in attic.
For many depending on the style of their home adding a dormer can add beauty and curb appeal.
Shed gable or hip choosing the right dormer for your cape cod style home.
The last cape cod i did we cut through the knee walls and hung rigid foam on the bottoms of the rafters.
Get attic vent installation replacement or repair in your budget.
Anyone who has lived in one of these types of houses knows how uncomfortable they can be in both the summer and winter months.
Don t finish or remodel your attic until you see this.
Attic ventilation in cape cod is necessary to prevent heat buildup in your houses.
The problems associated with these homes are a result of poor architectural design and not improper installation of the roofing or insulation.
The illustration shows an attic kneewall in a cape cod style house.
Insulating and ventilating cape cod or 1 story houses can be very challenging.
Capes are often insulated at the vertical wall and joist flats in the kneewalls.
Homeowners who are looking to add usable square footage to their home s existing footprint will often look to the basement garage and attic for a solution.
Most codes require a specified minimum amount of headroom and it s tough to meet this requirement when insulating a finished attic especially since most.
Enforcement varies but codes typically say that at least half of a finished attic must be at least 7 feet high and that this area must be a minimum of 7 feet wide and 70 square feet.
Based on our experience we have never seen a single house that has roof fans roof vents or gable vents that do not have ventilation issues.
Then we climbed into the upper attic and dense packed each cavity from above.
When the attic becomes part of the home to be heated and cooled open wall gable vents and roof vents are no longer feasible but the underside of the roof the sheathing and rafters can still.
But on simple 2 plane gable ended cape roofs like the one depicted.
If the hot water pipes for the second floor heating are run through the kneewalls they ll be outside the thermal envelope.
But here is the important thing you can.
To meet all three goals insulating your finished attic ventilating the roof and maximizing headroom use a combination of dense batt insulation rigid foam sheeting and air chutes.