Air sealing the building envelope is one of the most critical features of an energy efficient home.
Reasons to seal an attic.
Add weatherstripping around the perimeter and a sweep to the door of a walk up attic.
Once covered many air leakage paths will be more difficult and costly to access and properly seal.
But whether or not the attic is sealed you still need to access it.
I can t really find a compelling reason to spend the money to have a conditioned or semi conditioned non vented attic since i won t have mechanical equipment and ductwork in the attic and i will not be using it for storage.
Affix rigid foam insulation to the attic side of the hatch or door.
Hence my thoughts on sealing off the attic from the rest of the home and not venting it.
Thus the air in the attic is connected with the air in the house.
For whatever reason some homeowners make accessing the attic more difficult than it ought to be.
The result will be a much more efficient and comfortable home because your hvac system won t need to run as long to get the house to the temperature you want.
My inspection of the attic is a major part of a home inspection and it s important for buyers to know about any defects in the attic.
Proper attic insulation combined with air sealing prevents air that has already been heated or cooled from escaping your home.
There is no in between.
Once we know we use an expanding foam to seal the areas and prevent air transfer.
Attic hatch or door.
The easy way to check an attic seal is to start the blower door with the attic access closed then open it.
It either is or it isn t.
If you leave the insulation in the attic floor after insulating the roofline the attic will be cooler in winter than if you remove the insulation.
For this reason i break the seal on just about every home i inspect but i never do this without permission from the buyer.
If it is sealed the blower door will not fluctuate.
Use a zippered insulated tent to keep the enclosure draft free attic tent at 7 attic cover insulator 120.
Bath fan ducted into attic this is one of the main reasons that energy efficiency experts tell you to air seal the attic where the insulation will be installed and ensure bath fans are properly vented before insulating.
This is a place that homeowners may never look at as long as they own their home.
Pull down stair or ladder.
The first step of air sealing is testing the attic to identify where the air leaks are.
Testing pretty well and sealed is like pregnancy.
To prevent air leakage it is best to seal the building envelope during construction prior to installation of the drywall.
Air naturally moves upward through your house.
The most common method which probably isn t deliberate is covering it with the same ceiling texture that many other homeowners can t wait to get rid of.
