My house has an unfinished attic (the ceiling is the underside of the roof . . . lots of beams, then the wood. No insulation whatsoever). It’s a nice big space, roughly pyramidal, with headroom up to 10 feet. There is one window. It’s a great place to do an occasional project that I don’t have room to work on anywhere else (or something I need to keep away from the cats).
The problem, of course, is that it’s damn cold and sometimes drafty in winter; and can get up into the 120s (F) in summer. There are no electrical receptacles, just a bare bulb in the ceiling. This past winter I bought a kerosene heater, which puts out enough heat to make it tolerable the few times I was up there. The heater is currently sitting up there, nearly full. But now that summer is coming, I’m concerned about all that kerosene up there with all that heat. Am I asking for trouble (BIG trouble) by leaving it up there?
And what are my options for minimizing the heat during the times I’m up there working? I keep the window open during the summer, since it hardly rains from that side, but it helps only slightly.
You might as well be outside; actually, “outside” would be cooler because you’d have air moving.
There’s no way on God’s green earth to “minimize” the heat in an uninsulated attic. It’s already on the top floor, heat rises, so all the heat from the house is coming straight up there, and you’ve got heat radiating downwards through the solar-heated roof boards, too.
You can put in a window unit, but without insulation, you’ll just be cooling the Great Outdoors. Your best bet, besides finishing the attic, is going to be lots of fans, and lowering your expectations.
If you can afford it, put some insulation in between the rafters. This will help control the temperature both in the attic and in the house.
Fiberglass insulation doesn’t cost that much. You might want to follow up by applying foam insulation board to insulate a little more. Just be sure to leave a large gap around any chimneys or heater flues (I can’t remember the building codes, but I think that you need a two inch gap. Unless someone can verify this, I’d err on the side of caution and make it a six inch gap.)
Beyond that, I’d suggest putting a small air conditioner in the window.
So ok, let’s backtrack a little. If I shouldn’t be using a kerosene heater indoors, what are they made for? Where is it safe to use one? And what would be a safe source of heat up there in the winter?
Although I don’t advise leaving your fueled kerosene heater up there during summer, it isn’t because of any fire hazard, (even with a high flash point, one exists) but more degrade of the fuel.
Observation of common sense precautions should lead to safe heating. You do need adequate ventilation and noxious exhaust route.Likely extant from description.
Insulation is almost always a good idea, but attics are the worst place for the uninformed to begin.Mold and structural damage are available for the slapdash.
Every year a certain store sells kerosene heaters and before spring they are running a manufacturer recall on many different models because of carbon monoxide poisonings. It’s a very unsafe heater, because their not vented to the outside.
It’s not that you shouldn’t use them indoors at all–it’s that you must use them very, very carefully, with lots of precautions about venting, tipping, etc. Every year people die because they assume you just set it up in the bedroom, light it, and go to bed. Which is the Wrong Answer.
Your attic plays a key role in the health of your roof. In winter, the attic should be as cold as it is outside.
In summer, the attic should be cooled by soffit and/or gable vents, and preferably by an attic fan that is thermostatically controlled to come on at a given temperature. Too much summer heat will shorten the life of all the roof components.
Now, back to why it needs to be as cold as the outside air in winter:
A warm attic will cause ice or snow to thaw and refreeze over and over again, and this can force moisture under shingles and get at the roof structure. Bad news to heat an attic.
Turn the attic into living space and, when properly insulated, you can heat it.
Kerosene, gas, oil, Coleman fuel, and wood heating fires all share one thing in common with the occupants of a dwelling-they want oxygen and will die if they don’t get enough.
You can use a kerosene heater if you’re careful. It has to be kept away from combustibles. In an ordinary room, the drywall gives you a margin of safety, because it’s a barrier between the heat source and the wood framing and the kraft paper backing on batted insulation. In an unfinished attic, there’s no protection.
Make-up air is needed, too. That way you and the heater get plenty of oxygen. I use kerosene heaters in my shop during the winter, because the overhead door isn’t that tight. During power failures, I’ve used them in the house to prevent pipe freezing, but always with a window cracked, and the heater located 3’ minimum from combustibles.
