I'm a 37 year old woman (so not the best with technical terms) I was hoping to get some help on figuring out a plan to fix our issue.

We added about 480 square feet on to our home. The addition is added where the back patio doors were originally installed in our kitchen on the back of the house. So the addition is made up of three rooms, a dining room, small office and then a bedroom on the end with a hallway that connects them all.

We've noticed a significant temperature difference between the original part of the house and the new part. All the rooms in the addition are about 3-5 degrees colder than the rest of the house. Even the kitchen area that is closest to the entrance of the addition is significantly warmer than the addition.

So we consulted a HVAC company to help, thinking that was the issue. They upgraded us to a larger unit and reworked the ductwork to be more efficient. However, we have not improved the situation at all with the new system. The addition is still 3-5 degrees colder.

We've uncovered a new issue that we think would possibly be the reason for the temperature difference. We are in zone 4 (TN) and the builders put in rolled R30 insulation in the ceiling. However, they installed the insulation perpendicular to the joists and therefore, the insulation is sitting on top of the joists instead of being in contact with the sheetrock. There's probably about 7 inches of space between the sheet rock of the ceiling and the insulation.

So, would we be able to improve the temperature issue if we reposition the insulation to be parallel with the joists and sitting directly on the ceiling and also blowing in an additional 5 inches of insulation? The blown-in insulation will be R-19 at 5 inches.

Obviously I don't want to go through all the trouble of changing the orientation and adding additional insulation if it's not going to help. I'm looking to see if our thought process is correct and if there are any additional steps we need to look into. Thank you!

We added about 480 square feet on to our home. The addition is added where the back patio doors were originally installed in our kitchen on the back of the house. So the addition is made up of three rooms, a dining room, small office and then a bedroom on the end with a hallway that connects them all.

We've noticed a significant temperature difference between the original part of the house and the new part. All the rooms in the addition are about 3-5 degrees colder than the rest of the house. Even the kitchen area that is closest to the entrance of the addition is significantly warmer than the addition.

So we consulted a HVAC company to help, thinking that was the issue. They upgraded us to a larger unit and reworked the ductwork to be more efficient. However, we have not improved the situation at all with the new system. The addition is still 3-5 degrees colder.

We've uncovered a new issue that we think would possibly be the reason for the temperature difference. We are in zone 4 (TN) and the builders put in rolled R30 insulation in the ceiling. However, they installed the insulation perpendicular to the joists and therefore, the insulation is sitting on top of the joists instead of being in contact with the sheetrock. There's probably about 7 inches of space between the sheet rock of the ceiling and the insulation.

So, would we be able to improve the temperature issue if we reposition the insulation to be parallel with the joists and sitting directly on the ceiling and also blowing in an additional 5 inches of insulation? The blown-in insulation will be R-19 at 5 inches.

Obviously I don't want to go through all the trouble of changing the orientation and adding additional insulation if it's not going to help. I'm looking to see if our thought process is correct and if there are any additional steps we need to look into. Thank you!