How Much Insulation for 1,600 Square Feet?
Bags or rolls
14 bags
1,600 square feet of wall or ceiling, framed at 16 inches on center, with 106.8 square foot bags.
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How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Wall or ceiling area1600 sq ft
- Stud or joist spacing16 in
- Coverage per bag or roll106.8 sq ft
Bags or rolls14 bags
| Gross area | 1,600 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Framing factor at 16 in oc | 90% |
| Cavity area to insulate | 1,440 sq ft |
| Bags at 106.8 sq ft | 14 |
| Coverage bought | 1,495 sq ft |
The material list this produces
| Insulation batts, bags | 14 |
|---|---|
| Vapor retarder, sq ft (if required) | 1,600 |
Coverage per bag compared
Bag coverage is the number that decides this, and it is printed on the bag. Here is the same area at five common coverages.
| Coverage per bag | Bags or rolls | Coverage bought |
|---|---|---|
| 40 sq ft | 36 bags | 1,440 sq ft |
| 50 sq ft | 29 bags | 1,450 sq ft |
| 75 sq ft | 20 bags | 1,500 sq ft |
| 90 sq ft | 16 bags | 1,440 sq ft |
| 106.8 sq ft | 14 bags | 1,495 sq ft |
What else matters here
Sixteen hundred square feet gross, 1,440 of cavity, fourteen bags. At this size the question of batts against blown insulation is a real one.
Batts win where the cavity is open and regular: new walls, a gutted remodel, anything you can reach and see. Blown cellulose or fiberglass wins on an attic floor, because it fills around wiring, boxes and odd shaped framing without any cutting, and it wins in closed walls because it can be dense packed through a hole rather than opening the drywall.
Blown coverage is figured differently. The bag lists square feet at a given installed thickness for the target R value, so a bag might cover 60 square feet at R-30 and 40 at R-49. Put that number, not the batt number, in the coverage field. Then check the depth afterwards: attic rulers stapled to the framing before blowing are the only honest way to know you got what you paid for, because settled cellulose two inches shy of target is invisible from the hatch.
What this calculator assumes
- Framing takes up roughly 10 percent of a wall at 16 inch on center and 7 percent at 24. Cavity area is reduced accordingly, so you do not buy insulation for the studs.
- Bag coverage varies a lot by R value and width. The default is a common R-13 kraft faced batt bag; read your own bag and change it.
Questions people ask
How many bags of insulation for 1,600 square feet?
Fourteen bags of batts at 106.8 square feet per bag, covering the 1,440 square feet of cavity left after framing.
Are batts or blown insulation better?
Batts for open, regular cavities you can see. Blown for attic floors and closed walls, where it fills around wiring and framing without cutting.
How do you check blown insulation depth?
Staple attic rulers to the framing before blowing and read them afterwards. Depth is the only thing that determines the R value you actually got.
The insulation calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.