Insulating Hollow Core Attic Door

Mass loaded vinyl can be installed inside of the door s core or on the inside of the door in the room.

Insulating hollow core attic door. As you can see using the flame test the door is a little crooked which leaves a gap at the top and the bottom which allows cold air to flow into our closet. Lighter weight makes them easier to install. Even a new solid core door is not as expensive as four or five cans of insulating foam and the time and effort you would spend insulating it. So they re not drafty.

Glue a 1 to 2 inch sheet of foam insulation to the back of the door. The previous owner had stapled batt insulation to the back of this hollow core door but it s clearly not enough and the magnetic latch is pretty pathetic at holding the door tightly sealed. Often pre primed or painted for quicker installation. But on very cold days the doors feel cold to the touch.

Exterior installations of these doors can lead to delamination and deterioration above and beyond the insulation issues. After you have replaced the weatherstripping you ll want to cut a piece of fiberglass or rigid foam board to size and nail or glue it on the back of the hatch door. Luan plywood doors are certainly impossible to fill with spray foam the veneer is only an eighth of an inch thick or so even the styles of the door are very thin and wouldn t resist the force of the expanding foam. Add fiberglass or rigid foam board to back of hatch.

The access door is in our closet which is fine except the fact that the crawl space has very little insulation and neither does the door. At the time my builder compromised with me and installed pretty decent weather stripping on these doors. There is a hollow core door with a magnetic latch that allows access to this space. Your best bet is to order replacement doors for the door openings and select insula.

Since heavy mass is what blocks sound better than anything else using heavy sheets of vinyl will prevent noise from entering through the door. Many door makers stipulate that interior grade hollow core doors be installed only in interior partition separation applications. Most doors especially those with a hollow core dampen sound without blocking it. Cost less than solid wood doors.

Hollow core doors are not hollow they have an internal support structure usually cardboard glued between the panels. You can purchase pre cut attic door insulation material at your local home improvement store or online. It gets pretty chilly in that closet during the winter months since the door is a simple hollow core wooden door that does very little to keep out the cold air in the attic. My thought is to attach a solid piece of 2 high density styrofoam insulation to these doors.

This works well if you re insulating an attic or storage space where the foam door won t be seen. The makeup of a hollow core door is significantly different with a honeycomb cardboard interior encased by fiberboard or veneer compared with the all wood composition of a solid wood door. Less susceptible to expansion and or contraction. Replace your hollow core door with a solid core door.

In the closet of an upstairs bedroom there is a door about 3 4 the size of a normal door that leads to an unheated attic space.