When to Install a Knee Wall in Your Attic

By
Lee Wallender
Lee Wallender
Lee Wallender

Lee has over two decades of hands-on experience remodeling, fixing, and improving homes, and has been providing home improvement advice for over 13 years.

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Updated on 12/16/20
Knee wall in luxury attic

Caiaimage/Martin Barraud / Getty Images

Knee walls are not found in all attics, and they are not absolutely necessary. But they are awfully good to have. If your attic space is framed with rafters and is unfinished, it has a triangular shape. At the bottom points of the triangles, the rafters meet the top plates of the exterior walls. The exact height of the knee wall is your choice.

What Is a Knee Wall?

A knee wall is a short vertical wall, roughly two or three feet high, thats used to support rafters in the roof. It also blocks off the space that's too small (due to the sloping roof) to use for anything in an attic.

Energy-Saving Measure

The knee wall, by itself, can provide some degree of insulation against air infiltration from the outside. However, the knee wall is usually not enough to provide all the insulation you need.

To reduce air infiltration, the U.S. Department of Energy recommends that you complete several steps:

  1. Insulate the rafters.
  2. Cover rafters with an air barrier.
  3. Caulk that barrier.
  4. Caulk all other holes or cracks or stuff with fiberglass batt insulation or spray foam.