The north american insulation manufacturers association naima has a little two page document about compressing fiberglass insulation pdf.
Attic insulation squish down.
6 25 batt 5 5 cavity depth 0 75.
When you compress fiber glass batt insulation the r value per inch goes up but the overall r value goes down because you have less inches or thickness of insulation.
Let s look at an r 19 batt in a 2x6 cavity step 1.
You can use a piece of rigid foam and attach it with cap nails.
Before blowing in your insulation you ll need to create a barrier to keep the insulation from falling into areas where you don t want it like your walkway or down the attic hatch.
Subtract the cavity depth from the thickness of the batt in inches.
Walk to one end of the attic by carefully stepping only on the wooden ceiling joists.
More insulation installation tricks and tips work from the perimeter of the attic toward the door or hatch so that you don t trample all over the insulation you just.
Here s what they say.
Always cover the tops of the ceiling joists to make sure the insulation is deep enough to reach your target r value and.
The insulation material is compressed the r value decreases by approximately one half of that percentage or x compressed.
The recommended level for most attics is to insulate to r 38 or about 10 to 14 inches depending on insulation type.
Place a 2 inch by 3 inch board directly on top of the joist nearest to the edge of the attic with its largest.
Fiberglass insulation a man made mineral fiber con structed from a variety of materials such as sand and recycled glass is the most popular form of insulation in the united states more than 90 percent of homes in america are lined with the pink stuff source.
The higher the r value the better the thermal performance of the insulation.