Attic Hatch Air Sealing Sdetail

Attic hatches are the purloined letter of house efficiency problems.

Attic hatch air sealing sdetail.

With this being the case we suggest consulting a qualified healthy home expert to get it done. The stops provide a wider surface for attaching the weatherstrip and a space to mount hook and eye fasteners. It s easily removed and set aside whenever you need to access your attic. When you re done sealing your attic bypasses push the insulation back into place with an old broom handle or stick as you back out of the attic.

This is generally about a 22 by 30 hole in the ceiling of your house into unconditioned space so it certainly deserves some consideration. Erik north the owner of free energy maine is an energy auditor and home performance specialist in westbrook maine. Air sealing details air seal to reduce air infiltration between the attic and living spaces attic air sealing attics are not the only places where leakage can occur in homes but leaks between the house and the attic are especially troublesome during the winter when warm air inside the home naturally tends to rise and flow out. Air sealing the attic is an important project but it can be challenging.

Attic access hatch air sealing 7 0 our attic is designed mainly to hold our blown in insulation a future post will go over the details as opposed to a place for running hvac equipment conduit for electric or as a potential area for carving out additional storage space. Insulating and air sealing a leaky attic hatch will help stop drafts and it will make your home more comfortable and efficient. If your hatch rests directly on the moldings like ours did add 2 1 2 in wide stops around the. You can take a do it yourself approach but if you run into any of the following problems in your attic energy star recommends that you contact a.

Finally seal the hatch door with adhesive foam weatherstripping. The attic air sealing details section provides a scope of work and specification for the air sealing of many points of air leakage in common attic spaces. Finish up by sealing the access hatch with self sticking weather stripping. Insulate and air seal your attic hatch to save money and improve your house s comfort.

There are hundreds of things to detail properly to achieve an airtight home but one of the most commonly overlooked in a typical new house is the attic access hatch. In our ongoing series on air sealing we are going to focus on the dreaded attic hatch or as allison baile s of energy vanguard so eloquently calls it a mind blowing hole in your building envelope instead of crunching the numbers as he did one just needs to walk by one in a hallway during the middle of summer to know it isn t insulated. The guide to attic air sealing provides information and specifications to the following groups. Sealing the attic hatch or door.

They re in plain sight but rarely addressed adequately.