Why is our second floor so hot in summer and cold in winter?

Question

We recently bought a remodeled 2 story home. There is an attic crawl space. The heating and cooling is forced air from the basement. We have found that the second floor is incredibly hot in summer and cold in winter despite our heating and cooling efforts.

I had thought that it may be due to poor insulation in the attic. There is a small layer of the newspaper based insulation. Will putting a bigger layer of fiberglass insulation up there help or is it a waste of time?

Answer 1

Hot air rises, cold air sinks.

Increase insulation in attic and add an attic fan if you don't already have one.

Also, you may want to use some ceiling fans on the second floor

to move the air around.

Answer 2

You do need insulation. Experts differ on whether you'd be better off insulating between the second floor and the attic, or insulating the cap.

One excellent thing you can do in summer is blow outdoor air through the attic from one end to the other, using a normal exhaust fan. If it's 90 or 100 degrees outside, you attic will be MUCH hotter than that, so ventilating the attic keeps you cooler and saves on air conditioning. So don't use a type of insulation that would creat a problem venting that attic.

Answer 3

hot air rises -this is simple physics.  insulate better, seal all cracks, invest in good windows & covering, and buy fans that will circulate hot & cold air.  clean all vents & get your a/c & furnaced serviced.

Answer 4

I have spent years doing energy use calculations for residential buildings-there is a lot of variables that come into play to HONESTLY tell you whether or not more insulation is going to help your energy use, including geographic region. What saves your energy dollar in one season may hurt it in another. You may want to focus on the distribution of conditioned air to save energy instead of insulation. you'll end up with greater comfort for your money and still reep energy savings. go to http://leitchhvac.com and click on "what's zoning" for more info on the technology

Answer 5

yes, more insulation will help, however your problem is that your air handler is in the basement, it too hard for the air hot or cold to get up to the upper level, and I'll bet your thermostat is on the first floor so when the first floor gets to temp the thermostat shuts it down, you can try experimenting with closing some of the vents on the first floor this will help force the air to the second floor.

Answer 6

because heat rises and cold air sinks

Answer 7

The more insulation the better.

but there is a point where you have enough.

I would suggest finding out the R-value of your type insulation and figure the depth or thickness of it. most homes these days have At least R-30 in attic spaces and R-15 in walls.

The Second level of a house is usually the hardest area to control for a few reasons. Especially if you have only one heat/cool system located in the basement.

The forced air has to be properly balanced to provide ample air all the way to the second level and hot air rises and cold air falls so unless you have two systems. one for up and the other for down, you will have trouble balancing air. the ducts should be sized properly to deliver to that second level and you need to have ample high wall return air grills and pipes along with low wall return grills and pipes on that second level too.

There are regulator dampers that should have been installed in all your take offs of your main trunk line of air supply. These amount to a round piece of sheet metal inserted with a handle sticking out of each duct to balance back the air a bit in all the lower section to force more static air volume to the second level.

Have a A/C company give you and estimate on what it takes to balance your air or correct your problem

Good luck

Answer 8

This is because it is either not insulated or your heater/ac unit dosen't work well

Answer 9

bad insulation