In most homes, the attic door or hatch, is a framed plywood square in the ceiling of a hallway or bedroom, with no insulation above it. Without insulation, it is like having an open door to the outside or an open fireplace flue.
The good news is, it’s easy to fix this problem: simply apply a piece of insulated foam board to the back of the door or hatch and add weatherstripping to the frame. The materials are cheap, widely available and easy to work with, and the project takes half an hour to do. Most important, though, the simple fix will provide ongoing energy savings for the life of your home.
Materials for the Job:
Attic Door or Hatch
- 1 blue styrofoam board, 4’x8′, 2″ thick
- 1 tube of construction adhesive
- 1 roll of weatherstripping (for hatch)
Attic Door with Pull-Down Stairs
- Foil-faced styrofoam insulation board
- Foil tape
- Tape measure
- Marker
- Utility knife
- Straight-edge
Check out this video, created by PEC in 2009, for step-by-step instructions on insulating a typical attic hatch:
If you have an attic door with pull-down steps, this Youtube video may be useful (skip to 0:05):