Air Seal Attic Instructables

Dec 11 2017 air seal your attic for energy savings.

Air seal attic instructables. Seal small gaps with caulk up to inch and expandable foam spray up to 3 inches. When you turn the fan on high the house will be pressurized like an inflated balloon. Tape cardboard around the fan to cover large gaps. For larger holes filler material may be needed.

Once you seal the air leak with caulk or expandable foam it s not necessary to replace the insulation. To close the gap caulk can be used. As noted in 1 you need to air seal before you insulate. Find electrical wires that are penetrating the ceiling.

Ideally the attic is completely sealed from the rest of the house in order to keep conditioned air within the thermal envelope. Essentially allows air to enter the attic via soffit vent holes circulate and exit the attic via a ridge vent at the top of the house. By air sealing in your attic you can stop many major air leaks and help to maintain the desired temperature throughout your home. To seal these openings use caulk or spray foam.

Consider the layout of the floor below. The most effective way to cover any vent central air conditioning whole house fan louver etc is with ventstop. There is typically a gap between the framing of a house and the chimney or furnace. The product is an insulated non magnetic flexible vent cover that is applied with velcro and works extremely well it s very economical and reusable year after year.

Stick the spray foam nozzle in the hole with it and give it a quick squirt. This is a result of moist air leaking into your attic and then freezing when it hits your cold attic. You are not trying to shove foam down the wall but rather make an air tight cap on top. Without air sealing your attic you are allowing warm air to escape from your home carrying with it your hard earned winter heating money.

Find the lighting electrical box for each room and cover it with a dose of spray foam. Use expanding foam a piece of sheetrock that you caulk in place etc. Air infiltration defeats the insulative properties of whatever material you insulate with. Rather than having to spend days or weeks in a dirty attic carefully caulking every crack and filling all the holes with cans of.

Just put it back into place. Most people just add insulation to their attic this will not stop the escaping warm air. Compare with other projects. Air sealing the attic is an important project but it can.

The thing is to stop the warm moist air from entering your attic. Examine each bit of attic floor that is above a wall. Seal fireplace and furnace holes. It s easy to overlook electrical wires ducts pipes and vents in the attic but the openings around these are holes can compromise the air sealing of your attic.

Another insulation location is the attic. I love the stuff. In fact spray foam does exactly this. But what if you could air seal and insulate in one shot.