An attic hatch can have finished trim and paint look perfect and still be a giant heat sink.
Attic hatch insulation dam.
Air sealing to prevent air transported heat loss and beefing up the insulation.
Quick to install and reliable this is the complete out of the box solution for your attic scuttle hole hatch.
Of the many prerequisite tasks to adding blown in insulation to an attic perhaps one of the most important is having an air tight and well insulated hatch to limit air infiltration.
It also needs weatherstripping and caulking around the hatch trim.
Work from the perimeter of the attic toward the door or hatch so that you don t trample all over the insulation you just put in.
So what to do.
The finish panel visible from below does not have to be airtight.
But it is often a major contributor to air leakage problems.
Without this insulation dam the next person who enters the attic will surely be covered by inches if not feet of fiberglass.
Also behind the dam you can see a small pink line around the air handler.
The walls of the assembly also act as a dam to retain blown in insulation in the attic.
In the summers it will radiate heat down into the house and in the winter heat and warm air will escape.
Attic hatch insulation once you have finished sealing all of the leaks in your attic the next step is to weatherstrip your attic hatch or door.
If you don t already have wooden boards surrounding the perimeter of the opening you can cut some 1 3 boards and nail them into place with 6d nails.
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What follows are the steps i took to increase the insulation and ensure a good seal between the unconditioned attic above and the conditioned room below.
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You can see a dam built at the hatch where you enter.
Tim healeythe attic access provides a portal to the attic space while being integral to the red line air barrier.
Always cover the tops of the ceiling joists to make sure the insulation is deep enough to reach your target r value and to prevent thermal bridging the heat loss that occurs through the wood framing.
The goal is two fold.
It stops the contaminant pathway of attic dust allergens and insulation particles from entering your home.
The attic hatch should be treated as an exterior door so it should be insulated with the same r value as the attic insulation.
The attic hatch is a also major source of heat loss through air flow.
That way when you move the hatch to enter the attic insulation does not pummel on top of you.
In many cases the hatch cover is nothing more than a piece of plywood.
