Why is one room colder than the rest of my Calgary home?
One cold bedroom does not necessarily mean you need to turn up the furnace. If there is an attic above it, uneven insulation is worth checking. A deep pile above one room does very little for a thin patch above another.
We found exactly that on a job in southwest Calgary.
Plenty near the hatch. Not enough across the hall.
There was very little working space around the attic hatch. Nearby, the insulation was piled as high as roughly 17–18 inches.
Above the children's bedroom across the hall, there was only about 5 inches. That was the room the family struggled to keep warm.
Our thermal camera showed a colder surface-temperature pattern in the affected area. Looking inside the attic revealed the uneven coverage: the insulation was there, but too much of it was concentrated near the hatch.
We levelled the existing insulation first, then topped it up, bringing the finished coverage to roughly 24 inches. Simply adding more to the pile would have left the far side short again.
Uneven coverage, then levelled and topped up
Illustration, not the actual house.
17–18 in.
Near the hatch
About 5 in.
Above the cold bedroom
About 24 in.
Finished depth
Approximate depths recalled from this job; the finished depth includes existing and new insulation.
What the family noticed afterward
When we returned about ten days later, the homeowner and children told us the bedroom no longer felt as cold when they opened the door and walked in. The family also felt that the furnace was coming on less often.
That was the change they cared about: how the room felt in everyday use.
Why a deep pile can give the wrong impression
Imagine a blanket bunched up at one end of a bed. There is plenty of material, but it is not covering everything it needs to.
An attic can have the same problem. The depth beside the hatch is only one measurement. What matters over the cold room is the coverage actually above that room.
A useful assessment compares coverage across the accessible attic, including the area above the cold room, rather than relying on the depth beside the hatch. For an explanation of the numbers, our Calgary insulation-depth guide covers R-values and how different materials compare.
How do thin patches happen?
Insulation can become uneven for several reasons. Sometimes it was never distributed evenly. Work inside the attic can also disturb it. Wind entering at the eaves can also move loose insulation or pass through it, reducing its effectiveness. This is known as wind washing. At vented eaves, a baffle keeps a channel open under the roof, while an insulation dam holds loose material back from the intake. Together, they protect the edge without blocking the intended airflow.
What if the attic is not the problem?
A cold room can also have a heating-distribution issue, draughty windows or heat loss through a floor above an unheated garage. The room's position matters.
Tell us which room feels cold, whether it is worse on windy days and whether the problem is new. That gives us a much better starting point than simply asking for another layer of insulation.
If you are unsure whether your roof leaves enough room for a top-up, see our attic insulation options.
Start with the room that bothers you
You do not need to climb into the attic before calling us. Tell us which room is giving you trouble and where the attic hatch is. We'll check the accessible attic and explain what we find.
Or call 403-879-8988. We will give you a clear scope and price before you decide.
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