Insulating And Weather Stripping The Attic Hatch

When the sash locks are rotated in use they form an air tight seal with the foam weatherstripping.

Insulating and weather stripping the attic hatch. Foil faced polyiso is the greenest and best performing of the foam options. Insulate the hatch remove your existing attic hatch and measure its size. Attach the pieces of foam board to themselves and then attach them to the hatch. If your hatch rests directly on the moldings add 2 1 2 inch wide stops around the opening.

To insulate an attic hatch you need weather stripping rigid foam board and fiberglass batt insulation. Access shall be provided to all equipment which prevents damaging or compressing the insulation. Wash rinse and repeat until you have added at least 4 of foam board but preferably 8 of foam. Carefully pull down the finish trim.

The insulation will both slow heat loss and add ballast to the hatch to improve the seal at the weatherstripping. Apply a bead of glue to it and attach it to the plywood hatch. Cut two pieces of foam board that are about 1 4 smaller than the hatch. Sealing the attic hatch or door finish up by sealing the access hatch with self sticking weather stripping.

Once you have the appropriate materials you can start the process of sealing and insulating the attic hatch. Air seal the trim the first step is air sealing the finish trim and enclosure around the attic hatch. Cut four pieces of polystyrene rigid insulation about 1 2 inch smaller than the dimensions of the hatch. Insulating the hatch cut foam board to 1 2 less than the size of the hatch on each side.

Pray that the installer used finish nails and not say ring shank nails. To guarantee a good seal i paired sash locks with a gasket of foam weather stripping around the frame of the attic hatch. My apologies for the lack of photos but you can surely imagine how it works glue layers of insulation to hatch. First install foam weather stripping on the inside of the trim or directly onto the hatch.

How to insulate and air seal an attic access hatch. Install the weather stripping onto the hatch or on the inside of the trim.