[sid]

My attic is divided by a piece of foil backed insulation board. its only about 1/8" thick, but I need to cut a piece out to get to the other side of the attic to hang a ceiling fan. Don't understand why it is there. Either side of the attic is open to the vents in the eve, don't what purpose it would serve.
Maybe to stop breeze from coming in the eve on one side of the house through the attic and out the other removing any heat trapped there in the winter ?

Any help is appreciated.

[Oren[_2_]]

On Mon, 16 Mar 2015 15:19:36 -0700 (PDT), sid
wrote:

My attic is divided by a piece of foil backed insulation board. its only about 1/8" thick, but I need to cut a piece out to get to the other side of the attic to hang a ceiling fan. Don't understand why it is there. Either side of the attic is open to the vents in the eve, don't what purpose it would serve.
Maybe to stop breeze from coming in the eve on one side of the house through the attic and out the other removing any heat trapped there in the winter ?

Any help is appreciated.

Fire stop is my first thought. Doesn't make sense being 1/8 " thick.
I'd expect 5/8"? Have you asked your local building code office?

[Unquestionably Confused]

On 3/17/2015 12:33 PM, Oren wrote:
On Mon, 16 Mar 2015 15:19:36 -0700 (PDT), sid
wrote:

My attic is divided by a piece of foil backed insulation board. its only about 1/8" thick, but I need to cut a piece out to get to the other side of the attic to hang a ceiling fan. Don't understand why it is there. Either side of the attic is open to the vents in the eve, don't what purpose it would serve.
Maybe to stop breeze from coming in the eve on one side of the house through the attic and out the other removing any heat trapped there in the winter ?

Any help is appreciated.

Fire stop is my first thought. Doesn't make sense being 1/8 " thick.
I'd expect 5/8"? Have you asked your local building code office?

And unless the B&Z office is in Nigeria (and even that's doubtful)
there's no way it would be approved as firestop. That takes, IIRC, 5/8"
gypsum board with the seams taped and mudded. Maybe - again doubtful -
with the vents on opposing gables there is a prevailing wind that caused
a whistle? Guess OP will find out soon enoughg

[harry k]

On Monday, March 16, 2015 at 3:19:43 PM UTC-7, sid wrote:
My attic is divided by a piece of foil backed insulation board. its only about 1/8" thick, but I need to cut a piece out to get to the other side of the attic to hang a ceiling fan. Don't understand why it is there. Either side of the attic is open to the vents in the eve, don't what purpose it would serve.
Maybe to stop breeze from coming in the eve on one side of the house through the attic and out the other removing any heat trapped there in the winter ?

Any help is appreciated.

That stuff is cheap. Just use a box cutter to hack a piece out and if you decide the cover he hole either tape the cutout back in or buy a chunk and slap it on.

Harry K

[[email protected]]

I checked all the home-improvement big-boxes, didn't find it anywhere.
Any ideas on where to get it ?

[sid]

I checked all the home-improvement big-boxes, didn't find it anywhere.
Any ideas on where to get it ?

[trader_4]

On Thursday, March 19, 2015 at 6:16:46 AM UTC-4, Sid wrote:
I checked all the home-improvement big-boxes, didn't find it anywhere.
Any ideas on where to get it ?

Why would you want to get more? Are you the first owner? If not,
my guess would be that some previous owner put it there. Like others,
I've never heard or seen such a thing and from the description can't
imagine what purpose it's supposed to serve.

What's supporting it? It would seem they would have to put up
framing of some kind just to support it, no? And if you want to keep
it there, why can't you cut a section out, do what you need to do,
then just put it back?

[Oren[_2_]]

On Thu, 19 Mar 2015 06:15:50 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Thursday, March 19, 2015 at 6:16:46 AM UTC-4, Sid wrote:
I checked all the home-improvement big-boxes, didn't find it anywhere.
Any ideas on where to get it ?

Why would you want to get more? Are you the first owner? If not,
my guess would be that some previous owner put it there. Like others,
I've never heard or seen such a thing and from the description can't
imagine what purpose it's supposed to serve.

What's supporting it? It would seem they would have to put up
framing of some kind just to support it, no? And if you want to keep
it there, why can't you cut a section out, do what you need to do,
then just put it back?

I'm trying to visualize what the OP has and is looking for. 1/8" foil
faced insulation board? A photo would help. Maybe the OP is talking
about custom HVAC material. Dang if I know.

[[email protected]]

On Mon, 16 Mar 2015 15:19:36 -0700 (PDT), sid
wrote:

Any help is appreciated.

Help with WHAT?
Cut a hole in it, about the size of a door. There is no reason that
needs to be there. But if you think it needs to be there, replace what
you cut out. You may beed to add a few furring strips to reattach it.
If you do reattach it, use screws so you can open it again.

[TomR[_3_]]

In ,
sid typed:
My attic is divided by a piece of foil backed insulation board. its
only about 1/8" thick, but I need to cut a piece out to get to the
other side of the attic to hang a ceiling fan. Don't understand why
it is there. Either side of the attic is open to the vents in the
eve, don't what purpose it would serve.
Maybe to stop breeze from coming in the eve on one side of the house
through the attic and out the other removing any heat trapped there
in the winter ?

Any help is appreciated.

As others have said, it seem strange and it is hard to understand what the
purpose may be.

But, if you haven't seen what's on the other side of it, maybe the floor of
the attic on one side has insulation and the floor of the attic on the other
side does not. If so, there may be some valid purpose in separating the two
spaces with what is mostly (possibly) a vapor and/or airflow barrier.

In any case, you can just do what others have said -- cut a big section out
so you can get through from one side to the other to do the work. Then,
just tape the piece back in place to seal up the opening if you want to do
that.

Let us know what is on the other side -- hopefully not a missing relative.

[[email protected]]

On Thu, 19 Mar 2015 16:46:25 -0400, "TomR" wrote:

In ,
sid typed:
My attic is divided by a piece of foil backed insulation board. its
only about 1/8" thick, but I need to cut a piece out to get to the
other side of the attic to hang a ceiling fan. Don't understand why
it is there. Either side of the attic is open to the vents in the
eve, don't what purpose it would serve.
Maybe to stop breeze from coming in the eve on one side of the house
through the attic and out the other removing any heat trapped there
in the winter ?

Any help is appreciated.

As others have said, it seem strange and it is hard to understand what the
purpose may be.

But, if you haven't seen what's on the other side of it, maybe the floor of
the attic on one side has insulation and the floor of the attic on the other
side does not. If so, there may be some valid purpose in separating the two
spaces with what is mostly (possibly) a vapor and/or airflow barrier.

In any case, you can just do what others have said -- cut a big section out
so you can get through from one side to the other to do the work. Then,
just tape the piece back in place to seal up the opening if you want to do
that.

Let us know what is on the other side -- hopefully not a missing relative.


A pile of dead bodies from the mafia times, bootleg liquor from the
prohibition era, along with all kinds of illegal drugs and guns. Worse
yet, thre is a bomb in there that will blast as soon as that wall is
opened up.... It might be infested with bats too.

If that was my place, I'd call the FBI and have them available when you
enter that attic room.