Insulation between levels in a split level home
jgold723
| Posted in General Questions on
Our 1970’s split level in southern Maine has fiberglass batts in the ceiling of the bottom level. The insulation is old, damaged and we suspect may be harboring some mildew, not to mention mouse crud.
I’m inclined to remove it and not replace it. The lower level is heated (on its own zone) but I don’t see any reason to separate the two levels.
The lower level has a drop ceiling so I have relatively easy access to this.
Is there any reason to insulate between these two floors?
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Replies
If the house is operating as one unit (no secondary suite down stairs) then the insulation in the joist spaces is not required, but does reduce sound transfer between levels.
If there is, or will be, a secondary suite, the insulation will be required as part of the fire and sound rated floor assembly.
If you have conditioned space on both sides, the insulation isn't really needed for normal thermal insulating. The insulation would probably be for sound control in that case, where it does help a little. It takes more than just that insulation to reallly cut down on sound transfer though. If you are thinking about removing the insulation anyway, you can pull it down and see if you notice much difference in sound transfer, and then decide if you want to put new insulation in or not.
Bill