How to Build an Attic Stair Insulation Cap

If you feel a cold breeze whenever you walk underneath your attic stairs, you need to insulate the top of your attic stairs. While fold-up attic stairs are a convenient and space-saving way to get into your attic, the door allows cold winds to get from the attic to the house below. In the winter, this can put a burden on your heating bills. Instead of dealing with cold drafts, make an insulation cap out of rigid foam board for your stairs.

Measuring tape
Foam board
Utility knife
Duct tape

Instructions

- 1
  Climb up into the attic and close the stairs up behind you.
- 2
  Measure the width of the opening of the attic stairs using a measuring tape and add 1 inch. This is measurement A.
- 3
  Measure the length of the opening of the attic stairs using a measuring tape and add 1 inch. This is measurement B.
- 4
  Measure from the attic floor to the top of the folded attic stairs and add 2 inches. While some attic stairs rise only three or four inches from the attic floor when they are folded, others sit as many as five and six inches above the floor.
- 5
  Cut two rectangles of foam board using measurement C and measurement A as the width and the length, respectively.
- 6
  Cut two rectangles of foam board using measurements C and measurement B.
- 7
  Tape the four rectangles of foam board together into a box that sits around the opening of the stairs using duct tape.
- 8
  Place the foam board box around the attic stairs and secure it to the attic floor using strips of duct tape.
- 9
  Cut a foam board rectangle using measurement B and measurement A.
- 10
  Lay the lid on top of the box and apply a line of duct tape along one edge to act as a hinge. Push the lid open when you enter the attic and pull it closed behind you when you descend.

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