Insulating And Weather Stripping The Attic Hatch

Insulating the hatch cut foam board to 1 2 less than the size of the hatch on each side.

Insulating and weather stripping the attic hatch.

Carefully pull down the finish trim. Air seal the trim the first step is air sealing the finish trim and enclosure around the attic hatch. Apply a bead of glue to it and attach it to the plywood hatch. Access doors from conditioned spaces to unconditioned spaces e g attics and crawl spaces shall be weather stripped and insulated to a level equivalent to the insulation on the surrounding surfaces.

Insulate the hatch remove your existing attic hatch and measure its size. Wash rinse and repeat until you have added at least 4 of foam board but preferably 8 of foam. To guarantee a good seal i paired sash locks with a gasket of foam weather stripping around the frame of the attic hatch. Attach the pieces of foam board to themselves and then attach them to the hatch.

When the sash locks are rotated in use they form an air tight seal with the foam weatherstripping. First install foam weather stripping on the inside of the trim or directly onto the hatch. Access shall be provided to all equipment which prevents damaging or compressing the insulation. Foil faced polyiso is the greenest and best performing of the foam options.

If your hatch rests directly on the moldings add 2 1 2 inch wide stops around the opening. Sealing the attic hatch or door finish up by sealing the access hatch with self sticking weather stripping. How to insulate and air seal an attic access hatch. Pray that the installer used finish nails and not say ring shank nails.

Once you have the appropriate materials you can start the process of sealing and insulating the attic hatch. Cut out two pieces of rigid foam board that are 1 4 inch smaller than the hatch so homeowners can slide the attic access panel open easily. The stops provide a wider surface for attaching the weatherstrip and a space to mount hook and eye fasteners. The insulation will both slow heat loss and add ballast to the hatch to improve the seal at the weatherstripping.

Cut four pieces of polystyrene rigid insulation about 1 2 inch smaller than the dimensions of the hatch. My apologies for the lack of photos but you can surely imagine how it works glue layers of insulation to hatch.