Balloon Frame Attic

Absolutly no insulation in the walls or between floors.

Balloon frame attic.

One thing about balloon framing is that you can end up filling the upper floor with cellulose if you don t watch it. Balloon framing is a style of wood house building that uses long vertical 2 x 4 s for the exterior walls. The balloon frame uses a continuous wood stud wall member that stretches from the foundation to the attic. Once up there it usually was able to dissipate out gable vents or through the roofing.

You can see air when you look down where a bottom plate would be. Otoh my parents had the upper floor of their old farmhouse blown full of cells really cut down on sound transmission a lot. Balloon framing is used primarily in scandinavia and in the united states. I tried to post a photo but alas.

In balloon framing the studs vertical members extend the full height of the building usually two stories from foundation plate to rafter plate as contrasted with platform framing in which each floor is framed separately. First to second and second to attic. The balloon framing used in houses of that period i lived in one back in cincinnati oh in the 1970 s and 80 s allows water vapor that passes through the plaster and lath to be vented up into the attic of your home. If you look around the edges of the 2nd story subfloor or attic subfloor in a balloon frame house you d be able drop a penny down to the basement in the stud bay.

Interior of the outside walls are plaster on lath. Exterior walls are orginal wood lap siding covered with some type of asbestoes siding. Ballon framed two story house with full attic built in 1901. Is anyone aware of any studies science behind this common issue of insulating and old house the proper way.

These long studs extend uninterrupted from the sill on top of the foundation all the way up to the roof. Queen anne and shingle style buildings are typical examples of balloon framing. Fyi balloon framing is where the studs go down below the floor joists and sit directly on the sills so that there is no bottom plate. In a balloon frame the 2nd story subfloor is held up on the edges by a ledger board instead of resting on the top plate in a platform frame.

These stud walls are usually 16 inches apart and contain no inherent vertical fire stops.