Disappearing Stairs/Conventional Attics
Posted on Apr 4th, 2010 by Doug Marsh VP, CR, CAPS, GBP | 0 Comments
Dissappearing stairs in conventional attics
After some back and forth about whether to install spray foam in my attics to create unvented attics I decided to go ahead and properly insulate the two disappearing stairs that I have for attic access. These stairs create a whopping 24" x 54" hole in the ceiling insulation of you house! We all can't afford to retrofit foam into our attics especially considering all the gas furnaces up there that would have to be changed out to become sealed combustion units. I built a 12" tall box with a lid which I mounted on top of the disappearing stair unit. I used foam sheathing to wrap the box and lid including taping the edges. I caulked the joint between the new box and the stair unit. The ceiling framing is often 2" x 6" and so the box sits above the framing about 5"+. To complete the installation I brought in loose insulation and raised the level of the insulation up around the frame of the box giving me about 12" tall insultion surrounding the box. On top of the lid of the box I used a two sided 1/8" masonite (sheet goods) frame to enclose 8" of fiberglass and fastened that to the lid to ensure R 32 on top of the box.
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