If you have an attic and you get Ice Dams on your roof, chances are that your Attic’s Hatch is contributing to heat loss! Whether you have a regular hatch or one with a ladder, air leakage through the hatch can contribute to heat loss and drafty areas within your home.
This photo was taken on a fall day with a Blower Door running to depressurize the home – it shows the inefficieny of the hatch to contain heat within the conditioned area of the home (cold attic air entering is shown via the blue colors). Under regular conditions (when the blower door is not running), heat from the home will migrate through the edges of the hatch and enter the attic, which in turn heats your attic increasing the chances for ice dams.
Another way of thinking about this is that the homeowner is spending money to heat an area of the home that should be kept cold!
The solution to this issue is to make a hatch that has both Air Sealing and Thermal qualities! HOW YOU ASK? Make the attic hatch out of a nice piece of plywood and build a sturdy frame that the plywood can sit on. On the attic side of the plywood adhere at least R30 of Rigid Insulation Board – add high quality weather stripping to the frame, a handle to the attic hatch, and clasps to the hatch and the frame. Once fully assembled, you can pull the attic hatch tightly against the weather stripping and clasp it shut, thus creating an air tight seal that offers R30 for thermal resistance on the attic side!
If you have a drop down ladder, these improvements will not be as easy. If saving money on fuel, increasing comfort levels, and getting rid of Ice Dams is a big concern of yours, than highly consider removing the attic ladder and installing a regular attic hatch.
ANOTHER IMPROVEMENT! If you want to add more insulation to your attic, add a plywood barricade around the frame (on the attic side) that extends approximately 30 inches up – effectively creating a “chimney” around your hatch in the attic. This way, you can add insulation up to the edge of the hatch and not have to worry about covering it up (since there is R30 on the backside of the hatch, you’ll never have to drape fiberglass over it again)!
These solutions will help mitigate Ice Dams, increase comfort within the home, and lower energy bills during the heating season!
To further understand your home energy inefficiencies and possible solutions. Contact Rook Energy Solutions for a free phone consultation!
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