Air Seal Attic Top Plate

You will also want to get air chutes in place from this vantage point.

Air seal attic top plate. You want something that s elastomeric which means that it s stretchy after it seals up. I have used rigid foam tightly fit over the top plate between the ceiling joists and extending in a bit over the drywall. What does air sealing top plates in an attic mean. Air sealing the attic perimeter.

With air chutes in each rafter space you can fill the void between the rigid foam and air chute for an airtight high r assembly. Probably the simplest and easiest is just a really good high quality caulking. Just go up in the attic pull back the insulation and find the top plates. Top plates are where a variety of building materials come together.

Between the drywall and the top plate of the wall we ve got a few different choices of materials we can use to seal up. Save money by adding blown in insulation to your attic. If you have soffits that would be the best access for sealing over top plates. To fix it you just fill the gap with caulk or spray foam.

Top plates are a focal point in almost every energy audit and air sealing job we perform. Air sealing the wall plate around the perimeter of your attic blocks air from escaping around the outer edges of your home. Check out this short energy saving tip with stuart keith from today s home remodeler and brian auman from. The nailer above the crack is not airtight so the nailer doesn t prevent air which is under positive pressure with respect to the attic from entering the attic.

If your home has this kind of air leakage it s easy to find. These are often found in the top plate drop soffits and chases and the volume of conditioned air that escapes through them is equivalent to leaving a window wide open the year round. Before installing drywall install caulk or other sealant or a foam gasket to the face of the top plate then install the drywall. Air seal drywall to top plates at all attic wall interfaces to minimize air leakage.

Install drywall then seal the seam from the attic side with caulk foam or drywall adhesive but not other construction adhesives. The photo at left shows a typical one flush drywall on one side and a big gap on the other. The room most likely has drywall walls and ceiling that meet flush together. We seal the gap between the top plate and the drywall installed on the partition wall because air can leak between the drywall on the wall and the top plate.