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Insulation batt with integral air vent

Insulation batt with integral air vent description/claims

The present invention is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/666,657, filed on Sep. 19, 2003, by Duncan et al., titled “Baffled Attic Vent and Method of Making Same,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/083,397, filed on Mar. 18, 2005, by Duncan et al., titled “Reconfigurable Attic Air Vent;” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/996,225, filed on Nov. 23, 2004, by Trabbold, et al., titled “Insulation Batt Having Integral Baffle Vent,” the entirety of which applications are incorporated herein by reference.

This invention relates to insulation products installed between adjacent roof rafters of a structure, and particularly to an insulation batt having an integral air vent space to allow for air circulation adjacent to the roof.

With an increasing emphasis on energy efficiency, attic insulation has often been supplemented by blown, loose-fill insulation, or by additional or thicker insulation bats to prevent heat loss in the winter and cool air loss in the summer. Unfortunately, thicker attic insulation can lead to poor air circulation when the spaces between the roof joists and the top wall plate of the building are closed or obstructed. These spaces must be left open to provide air flow between the soffit area and the attic space, for reducing excess humidity and heat, which have been known to deteriorate roofing and structural components. In order to keep this area open, attic vents have been used.

The purpose of an attic vent is to prevent installed insulation, such as fiberglass bats, blankets, fiberglass and cellulose loose fill, and polymer foam batts from blocking the natural air flow from the ventilated soffit up through to the roof ridge vent or gable vents in the attic. Several attic vents have been designed for this purpose. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,672 directed to a perforated block-style vent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,971 directed to a flat panel formed on site into an arch; U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,973 directed to a perforated block-style vent; U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,683 which is directed to the use of a vent board attached in the A-plane of a header board; U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,510 directed to a rolled sheet design; U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,612 directed to the use of a longitudinal ridge in a roof vent for compressive stiffness; U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,847 directed to a vent having an integral transverse stiffening element integrated in the bottom offset wall; U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,928, directed to a vent having stiffeners in the form of saddles in the longitudinal ridges of the roof plane and gussets between offset, bottom surface and the inclined walls of the channel; U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,991, directed to a vent having an integral hinge in a transverse direction, about 4-6 inches from one end; U.S. Pat. No. 6,346,040, directed to an integral vent and dam folded on-site from a flat sheet; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,185, directed to a vent having a sealable panel that prevents air infiltration except through the vent.

In addition, there are many commercial attic vents available for this purpose: PERMA-R® from Owens-Corning; or CERTIVENT® from Diversifoam, Inc. A simple foam available from Apache Products; DUROVENT® and PROVENT®, available from ADO Products; and products available from Pactiv; AEROVENT® from Shelter Enterprises, Inc.; and POLYVENT PLUS® from Moore Products, LLC.

Most of the above mentioned patented or commercial vents are vacuumed-formed extruded polystyrene foam. These designs provide for an open air flow area required by most building codes, while providing the stiffness to resist collapsing when the insulation is installed.

The use of such pre-formed vents requires that the vent and insulation be provided as separate pieces, since the insulation batts are typically packaged compressed for packaging so as to reduce the insulation package size for shipping and storage. At the work site, the installer typically nails or staples the vent to the roof structure before the insulation is installed. As a result, there is a chance that the installer may inadvertently fail to install the vent or may install fewer vents than is desirable for optimal venting of the roof structure. Proper installation of vents is particularly important in cathedral ceiling applications, in which every rafter bay is individually insulated, and where the insulation vents should be installed along the entire length of the roof.

Accordingly, there is a need for an attic air vent that needs no separate installation step apart from installing the insulation batt, such that an air space is automatically formed between the batt and the underside of the roof when the insulation batt is installed between adjacent roof rafters. Advantageously, the air vent should be formed with the insulation material during manufacture and compressed along with the insulation batt for packaging, shipping, storage and installation.

An insulating structure is disclosed for maintaining a ventilation space between insulation material and a roof structure. The insulating structure may comprise an insulating body portion having first and second major surfaces and a longitudinal axis, and a plurality of support members disposed on the first major surface. The support members may each have a length oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the insulating body portion and a height which extends said support members outwardly from the first major surface. The plurality of support members further may be positioned in laterally spaced apart relation across a width of the first major surface to create at least one ventilation opening. The ventilation opening may be formed by the first major surface of the insulating body portion and opposing inner side surfaces of said the support members. The insulating body portion may be resilient and comprises a fibrous or foam insulation material, and the plurality of support members may comprise a stiffness substantially different from a stiffness of said insulating body portion.

A method for insulating a roof structure is disclosed, comprising providing an insulating body portion having first and second major surfaces and a longitudinal axis, a first major surface of the insulating body portion containing a plurality of support members disposed substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the insulating body portion, each of said support members further being disposed to extend outward from said first major surface and spaced laterally apart from one or more adjacent support members; and disposing the insulating body portion adjacent to a roof sheathing member such that said support members contact said roof sheathing member to thereby create a ventilation space between the first major surface of the insulating body portion, opposing inner side surfaces of adjacent support members, and a surface of the roof sheathing member.

A method of manufacturing an insulation product is disclosed, comprising: providing a layer of insulation blanket material; moving the layer of insulation blanket material in a machine direction; and dispensing a strip(s) of foamed material on a surface of the layer of insulation blanket material

A method of manufacturing an insulation product is disclosed, comprising: providing a layer of insulation blanket material; moving the layer of insulation blanket material in a machine direction; and laminating a strip(s) of foamed material on a surface of the layer of insulation blanket material.

An insulating structure is disclosed for maintaining a ventilation space between insulation material and a roof structure. The insulating structure may comprise an insulating body portion having first and second major surfaces and a longitudinal axis; and a plurality of support members disposed on the first major surface. The support members may each have a length oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the insulating body portion and a height which extends said support members outwardly from said first major surface. The plurality of support members further may be positioned in laterally spaced apart relation across a width of the first major surface to create at least one ventilation opening. The ventilation opening may be formed by the first major surface of the insulating body portion and opposing inner side surfaces of said adjacent support members. The insulating body portion may be resilient, the insulation body portion and the plurality of support members further may comprise foam material, and the plurality of support members may have a stiffness substantially the same as a stiffness of the insulating body portion. In one embodiment, the foam material may be a pour in place foam.

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• Utility Patent

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