Air Seal Attic Instructables
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.
Air seal attic instructables. Seal fireplace and furnace holes. When you turn the fan on high the house will be pressurized like an inflated balloon. Without air sealing your attic you are allowing warm air to escape from your home carrying with it your hard earned winter heating money. Air sealing the attic is an important project but it can.
But what if you could air seal and insulate in one shot. Another insulation location is the attic. Consider the layout of the floor below. Examine each bit of attic floor that is above a wall.
Tape cardboard around the fan to cover large gaps. Furthermore the attic insulation rests on the attic floor. Combined with attic insulation air sealing can help to alleviate the formation of dangerous ice dams in the winter. Find the lighting electrical box for each room and cover it with a dose of spray foam.
To close the gap caulk can be used. 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. Just put it back into place. In fact spray foam does exactly this.
Air infiltration defeats the insulative properties of whatever material you insulate with. Most people just add insulation to their attic this will not stop the escaping warm air. Once you seal the air leak with caulk or expandable foam it s not necessary to replace the insulation. Seal small gaps with caulk up to inch and expandable foam spray up to 3 inches.
Dec 11 2017 air seal your attic for energy savings. I love the stuff. There is typically a gap between the framing of a house and the chimney or furnace. 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.
Find electrical wires that are penetrating the ceiling. This is a result of moist air leaking into your attic and then freezing when it hits your cold attic. Ideally the attic is completely sealed from the rest of the house in order to keep conditioned air within the thermal envelope. To seal these openings use caulk or spray foam.
You are not trying to shove foam down the wall but rather make an air tight cap on top. The thing is to stop the warm moist air from entering your attic. Rather than having to spend days or weeks in a dirty attic carefully caulking every crack and filling all the holes with cans of. For larger holes filler material may be needed.
Stick the spray foam nozzle in the hole with it and give it a quick squirt. The most effective way to cover any vent central air conditioning whole house fan louver etc is with ventstop. As noted in 1 you need to air seal before you insulate. Use expanding foam a piece of sheetrock that you caulk in place etc.