How To Make An Attic Door Cover

One area that you may overlook when insulating an attic is the hatch or stair cover.

How to make an attic door cover.

Purchase some 2 4 interior door jamb stock from your local building supply centre or any shop that supplies doors for homes. Measure between the joists and cut two boards to fit one on each side of the opening. Use a straight edge knife to cut any drywall paper that wasn t taken care of with the drywall knife. Toenail the board into the joist so that the bottom of the 2 by 6 inch board is level with the bottom of the joist.

I saw a home with an access ladder to the attic over the garage this is what i told them. Or you can board the opening door with a 1 2 gypsum board. Building your own attic stair cover is really easy to do and costs about half what a store bought version will cost. If there is a fire in the garage the fire is going to heat up that 26 gage sheet metal attached to the wood pull down stair catching the wood cover of the pull down stair on fire.

Use a pencil and draw a box within the joists. Make sure the r value of the insulation on the hatch matches the r value of the insulation in the rest of the attic. Cut the longest members first and make each of them as long as the inside measurement of the. Insert each board just beyond the cut line where you removed the drywall.

Standard attic stair covers. These should be at least 2 by 6 inches in size. Install fiberglass batt insulation on top of the foam board. Attach the blanket insulation to the attic side of the cover box with adhesive and wrap it with building wrap or other air barrier to prevent air movement in the insulation from degrading its r value.

Covers how to select a location find studs measure and cut a hole install tr. The box should rest squarely on top of the attic stairs frame or on wood stops installed to support it. The best attic insulation will not be 100 percent effective without attention to the details. You may already know that a poorly insulated attic can cause your heating and cooling bills to skyrocket.

Standard attic stair covers will work on most any attic stair unless you have a unique situation like our. This generally comes in 7 lengths and you will need three pieces of it for a standard sized attic access hatch. Using drywall knife start cutting the ceiling out along your line. The attic door will rest against this stop which should make a continuous rectangle around the opening.

Attach the two layers of foam board together and apply them to the hatch.