Bought my first house and started to investigate some temperature issues
Discovered that the attic access hatch isn’t insulated, which honestly isn’t surprising given when it was built. No ladder system. I’m working on cutting up some foam boards to glue to the backside. Hopefully it will reduce how much is radiated through this barrier.
Cool. May I ask what IR cam you're using?
I dunno the specific model, but it seems to be a Flir.
It's the flir software, so likely a flir one.
I've got the ulefone 27t. It has a built in flir camera.
Nice.
I borrowed a IR camera from the local public library.
Next I'll maybe borrow a telescope.
Damn, I’m jealous yours has one to loan out. Can I ask what brand and model it was?
That's exactly what I'm finishing today. That foam board works pretty good and is super easy to work with. Also make sure the air seal is good. I used foam tape where the hatch rests against the frame.
When I crawled up in the attic, I found where the previous owner got halfway done and just gave up. There's still 4-5 unopened rolls of insulation just setting in the corner.
I don't judge the previous owner, I've worked with insulation before.
If it was just that one thing, I wouldn't either. But I'm impressed with their half-assing ability. Last year I was mounting an outside mini-split unit and found where when they turned a porch into a bedroom, they didn't bother building an external wall. They put up studs, drywall on the inside, nothing but foamboard and vinyl siding on the outside.
Especially if the space is cramped and humid. That area can really roast you fast during the summer!
We don’t have a truck so I bought narrow R-7.5 boards which happen to be a good fit width-wise by cutting them in half. They didn’t have enough of those, sadly, so I had to resort to a kit similar to this which has a lower R-value. I’m using some construction adhesive to get them to stick together. The foam may not fit tight against the 2x8” walls but it should significantly reduce thermal conductivity.
At the very least, I’ll be putting adhesive rubber sealing strips along the opening to block air.
We recently found out that one of our ducts was just petrified old tape, there had never been any metal ducting there at all. It wasn’t cheap to get fixed but it has made a noticeable difference in how long the AC is on and the temp in the house.
Bro, if your attic is so damned hot that the hatch looks like that, yikes. Since you own the place, I'd say it's well worth whatever they charge to coat the underside of the roof with foam.
Our Habitat for Humanity house has zero insulation on the attic floor, except for a little dust. :) It's typically about 10°F hotter than the house below. Also, we can run around up there and store junk.
You reminded me! I was going to rig a fan up there and I have two solar cells doing nothing!
Recognize there’s a possible logical fail there. The reason it’s only 10F warmer is due to the lack of insulation. You’re losing a ton of thermal control in the livable areas of your home and probably could seriously cut your heating and cooling by asking that insulation.
This house was built by Habitat for Humanity. The whole goal is to put people in a mortgage they can afford. Given that, the insulation, windows, doors, etc., are top notch for insualtion. One of the guys told me the structure is above grade by 2 and sometimes 3 notches, and this on the Hurricane Coast. Doorknobs and faucets, LOL, not so much.
Commented the other day that the AC only runs non-stop when both conditions are met; over 95F and left it off for the afternoon. Kinda nuts how little power this house uses, but it is small.
These thermal imaging cameras don't have specific temperature for each color. The hottest area in view will always be at the extreme white/yellow end of the graduent, and the coldest will be at the black/purple end. Even with more insulation in the attic, the hatch will likely still be this color. That is, unless the hatch was more insulated than the ceiling, or it was colder in the attic than the room this photo was taken from.
Seems here in the northeastern states it’s normal to do blow-in insulation as cold is more problematic than heat. Using spray-foam insulation would result in wasted heat by radiating through the ceiling into the attic where nobody is at during the winter.
I’ve finished assembling a stacked block of insulating foam and adhering it to the back of the hatch door. We’ll see tomorrow how it measures with the thermal camera, but forecast shows we probably won’t exceed 80° which will make it difficult to see how effective it is.
LOL, guess I been in Florida too long, hadn't considered cold. Ex-wife and I went two winters without heat, only space heaters. Not that it doesn't get cold! We hit 14F last year and 19F is usually our lowest.
While touring a rental the other day, I saw someone use what looked like one of those shiny aluminum looking car windshield heat reflectors on the top side of the attic access door. It was a 90+ degree day and the attic access hatch felt room temperature.
Its a good first step, but the r value of reflectix isnt nearly as much as foam board or fiberglass. Foam board has a reflective coating on the outside that will do the same thing (reflecting IR radiation). But if you have some lying around and it works, then it works.
It would actually be more effective to put the reflective stuff on the under side of the hatch since this would reduce its ability to radiate heat to your space. It would look terrible of course. Actual insulation on the top is going to be the most effective.
That would be a great piece to the full solution. I’m trying to get the R-value to at least 25 (40 being ideal), and the reflective stuff on top or bottom would probably help slow down thermal transfer.
I found that foam insulation on the back side interfered with opening the cover board. You might have a look for little tents to go over the opening on the attic side. eg: https://www.walmart.com/ip/IBEEDOW/15403958129
Unfortunately the hatch isn’t a pull-down. I have to push the board all the way up to get it out of the way. There’s not enough room to install a foldable ladder solution either since it’s at the end of the hall and doesn’t align with the doorways.
It’s frustrating since the solution you posted would be the ideal thing to install.
The tent is just the tent to sit over top of the hole in your ceiling. You'd just push the cover board up into the tent space then open the tent. My hatch has a tunnel built around it to retain several inches of loose fill insulation on the attic floor, and the tent sort of wraps around that tunnel/chimney. Not installed to manufacturer's instructions. Between the tunnel & tent, there's enough space to push the cover up and twist it to remove, then I lean a regular ladder against the tunnel to climb up & push the tent out of the way. Then just set it back over the opening on my way back down. Really just want something to make a second air chamber in that tunnel between the hot attic air and the fiberboard cosmetic cover.
You could probably get the same effect building a little foam-board roof over the opening, especially if your house doesn't have the insulation-tunnel. It's really that I found insulation bonded to the cover board made it too thick to twist out of the opening.
I use a heat camera to check bearings on equipment. Might have saved the baler one year because the camera showed a piping hot bearing at the top that could have set it on fire.
Throwing this out there just in case: is the attic vented properly?
There are two vents, one on each side opposite of each other. No fans.
I’m used to Texas where they’re vertically mounted with a fan. So I don’t know yet what is “proper” for the northeast region
Another thing while you're working on the hatch: air seal it as well. There are gasketed hatches, or you can install a stick-on gasket for the existing one. Stick it to the attic side (rather than the hatch). You may need to put a 2x2 frame inside the access if there's not much space to stick to.
Air movement can carry a lot of moisture and thermal energy. Insulation isn't very effective when air can just move through/around it.
I had some leftover window/door rubber seal strips that I cut to length and put on the frame for the hatch to rest on. This will prevent air flowing between the house and attic. Maybe foam would’ve been better as a “soft landing” but figured it was best to use what I already had
That should work just fine, as long as it's able to compress a bit and create a seal.