How Important Is Attic Door Insulation?
If you haven’t thought about how important attic door insulation is, just take this into consideration: if not properly insulated, a door, a hatch or any other type of access may be an important means of energy loss inside your home. This is mainly because conditioned air is able to escape around the perimeter of the access panel, and that’s not even the whole story. An uninsulated attic door or hatch will facilitate heat loss and gain.
Air that is filled with moisture coming from the house can accumulate on the attic’s surface by condensation. This is bound to deteriorate the insulation. There are various solutions that are meant to reduce the energy loss and increase the durability of a house. An example of such a solution is the prefabricated system which are built in order to insulate attic door and hatches. Such a system will greatly reduce the draft. You may be glad to find out that there are also specific methods and materials that will help you insulate your attic yourself. Such do it yourself methods will help you thermally seal the various openings your attic may have.
Attic door insulation systems will usually use hinges and zippers. Each manufacturer will be able to provide you with several sizes which are meant to fit various dimensions of the access ways. Now let’s talk a little bit of the installation.
First, you will need to insulate the attic hatch, door or stairway. This is done because it need to have the same insulation as the rest of the attic. The simplest approach is to simply use the same insulation that is being used in the attic, around and over the hatch/door area. If you use Batt insulation, this can be done by simply creating a cover the size of the hatch/door. If you are using loose fill insulation, you will need to use a backer around the attic opening. This must be done in order to contain the fill. After this, you must insulate the hatch itself with rigid foam.
Contrary to what many people believe, installing an attic insulation system is easy to do and doesn’t take very much time. The tools and techniques used in the process are relatively simple. Insulating your attic door or hatch can cost you anywhere between $50 and about $250. This cost is small considering the great advantages you will gain afterwards: no more air leakage inside your home, which in turn reduces your energy costs. Not to mention the fact that it prevents the discomfort that drafts provide.