How To Seal You Attic Space

Heated rooms built into attics often have open cavities in the floor framing under the walls.

How to seal you attic space.

If it gets colder than that the bats in the attic will migrate out allowing you to seal up cracks and other entry points once they leave for the season. Use spray foam to air seal these openings if they exist. But if the floor is covered in plywood you can t stuff enough insulation beneath it to do the job sufficiently not even in warm climates. As a result you can reduce the temperature in your attic by a lot anywhere from 120 degrees to around 95 during peak summer.

Set up traps for the animals in your attic. Long piece from a batt of fiberglass insulation and place it at the bottom of a 13 gallon plastic garbage bag. Most people just add insulation to their attic this will not stop the escaping warm air. Without air sealing your attic you are allowing warm air to escape from your home carrying with it your hard earned winter heating money.

If you want you can even transform a spray foamed attic into a finished space. When you insulate the top of your attic with spray foam you re bringing your attic into your home s envelope. A combination of air sealing and insulating the attic floor while providing ventilation considerably reduces the potential for condensation as warm moist air is less likely to enter the space and condense on cold surfaces. If you live in an area with mild temperatures throughout the year the bats will stay year round.

Better yet there are high quality products such as the attic gator designed to both seal and insulate attic access doors and scuttle holes. Fold the bag over and stuff it into the joist space under the wall. Plug all open joist spaces under insulated side walls. Plan to pull up the flooring and layer new insulation on top of the old.

To properly seal your attic hatch also known as an attic door or scuttle hole at a minimum you should apply weather stripping and ensure the attic side of the attic door is insulated. From inside the attic check for any openings holes or fenestrations into the knee wall surrounding area. Because the simplest and cheapest way to insulate an attic is to add material to the floor. Apply weather stripping to the door to create a seal.

Set up the traps with a desirable piece of food and the animals will be drawn to it. Once you have the materials you can begin to seal and insulate the knee wall access door through these steps.