How to Install Insulation in an Unheated Area

If you have an unheated area in your home --- a nook off the kitchen, for example, or a small add-on area to a bedroom without its own heating register --- you may be able to make it livable during the winter just by insulating the walls. If the area is attached to heated areas, and you insulate it well enough, even a little distant heat can gather and warn the place up. The walls have to be open to studs for this project.

Tape measure
Level
Utility knife
Fiberglass insulation (in rolls)
Stapler

Instructions

- 1
  Measure the height of the walls, in the spaces between two exposed studs.
- 2
  Roll out a strip of insulation on the floor, with the tape measure next to it, opened to the first measurement you took.
- 3
  Lay a level across the length of the fiberglass, at the measurement. Cut the piece to that length, using your utility knife to cut straight across.
- 4
  Press the insulation between two of the studs, filling the cavity, with the paper-covered side facing out.
- 5
  Staple the paper backing to the edges of the studs on both sides of the insulation. Don't staple them to the front-facing narrow edge, but to the sides. Put staples every foot or so along both sides.
- 6
  Repeat for the spaces between each pair of studs on each exterior wall. You can later install drywall to the studs, over the fiberglass.

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