Attic hatches look innocent enough. They lay flat on your ceiling and rarely cause a thought except when you need to get up there.
Unfortunately, they are not so benign. The reality is that in most homes, attic hatches are enormous wasters of energy.
They tend to fit loosely in openings that have not been designed or constructed with any thought towards energy efficiency.
The panels are lightweight, which causes them to not sit tightly even if an air-sealing gasket is present (which it normally isn't).
In the photograph to the right, you can easily see visual proof of this energy loss in a typical home (this particular example is a 20 year old house in Town & Country).
Home Green Home performs this type of thermal photography during every initial assessment as a way of gathering objective information about your home.
Notice that the ceiling around the hatch is nice and cool as a result of proper insulation in the attic.
However, the hatch itself is more than ten degrees warmer than the house because it is uninsulated.
In the winter especially, this will represent a waste of energy because heated air that naturally rises will be lost to your attic requiring your furnace system to do extra work to replace it.
Home Green Home is happy to take care of this problem for you. We would install an insulated hatch that seals tightly to prevent both air flow and heat loss. This type of upgrade to your home will save energy, reduce energy bills, improve comfort and clean up your breathing air (by keeping the nasty attic air out of your house).
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