Air Seal Top Plates In Attic

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 seal top plates in attic.

Air seal your attic for energy savings. The air sealing barrier should be just inside what is commonly referred to as the thermal barrier your insulation. Top plates are where a variety of building materials come together. Check out this short energy saving tip with stuart keith from today s home remodeler and brian auman from.

Most people just add insulation to their attic this will not stop the escaping warm air. Air seal the top plate to drywall seams to reduce air leakage in an existing home using one of the following or another method. Install spray foam insulation on the attic side of the ceiling at the eaves. Top plates are very leaky.

A big culprit for air leakage in a home is through holes in the floor of the attic. Air sealing the drywall to top plates is required by many of the efficiency certificate programs that sem offers such as ecoselect and energy star. In most houses that gap doesn t get any kind of air sealing so attic air can leak into the house or conditioned air can be pulled into the attic depending on the pressure differences. Think about the rooms right below the attic.

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. Air sealing the attic perimeter. In racine and kenosha or anywhere in our cold midwest climate it is commonly known that air sealing can save the first 20 on annual energy bills. What does air sealing top plates in an attic mean.

Top plates are a focal point in almost every energy audit and air sealing job we perform. Beyond meeting certificate requirements air sealing should also be considered a low hanging fruit on any residential construction project. Air sealing the wall plate around the perimeter of your attic blocks air from escaping around the outer edges of your home. It s usually the hardest place to air seal because the cramped space underneath the eaves where the roof rafters rest on the outer wall makes it hard to move your hands and head.

Install spray foam insulation on the attic side over the entire ceiling deck.