Insulation & Air Sealing Photo Album: Treating a Walk Up Attic in Rochester, NY

Walk up attics have to be dealt with differently than a normal attic with a hatch. They are different because the interior attic door, the back of the stairs, and the three walls surrounding the stairs are typically outside and all need to be dealt with in some manner.

Here you can see the customer's open staircase where he is losing energy and wasting money!

We start by closing off the walk up opening at the attic flat by installing a prebuilt 2'x6' attic hatch and framing in the rest of the opening.

We then cover the framing and hatch with foam board, and air seal any cracks.

This method works well in both attics with straight stairs and attics with "L" shaped stairs. It is not as convenient as a walk up attic but much more energy efficient.

This staircase is "L" shaped and in this case, just air sealing and insulation have proved ineffective to us in the past.

When using this method, it's very important to spray foam the top plates. This, in combination with the newly installed attic hatch, will improve energy efficieny and help keep the customer comfortable in his home!