Fireplace Draftstopper

Battic Door, the leading manufacturer of attic stair covers, introduces a new line of Whole House Fan Covers.

With several sizes available to fit most any whole house fan, each kit includes a cover and weatherstripping.

"Our new line of whole house fan covers compliment our highly successful energy-saving, R-50, attic stair covers" stated Mark D. Tyrol, President of Battic Door.

"Designed for the home owner and do-it-yourselfer to the weatherization professional, our whole house fan covers have been engineered to quickly and easily cover and provide an air seal for what amounts to a large hole between the conditioned house and the unconditioned attic", explained Tyrol.

Attic stairs and whole house fans increase energy costs due to heat loss and drafts. They are not insulated or weatherstripped, and are like leaving a window open all winter long. These often overlooked sources of wasted energy are easily corrected by adding a weatherstripped cover over them.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - JANUARY 2005

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10/11/2004 - We did it again!!  Check out our latest interview, published Nationwide! 

High Energy Bills May Be Due To Commonly Overlooked Holes In Your Home

by Phoebe Chongchua
Copyright © 2004 Realty Times®. All Rights Reserved.

It's the unthinkable, leaving the door wide open in the chilling winter season. Yet surprisingly many homeowners are doing something very similar to that when they overlook the largest holes in their homes.

The clothes dryer, attic stairway and fireplace may not typically come to mind as escape routes for air, but they can be exactly that, as well as a costly expense to your heating bill.

"The clothes dryer exhaust duct goes right outside through a four-inch diameter exhaust pipe," say Mark Tyrol, Battic Door Attic, Stair Covers in Mansfield Massachusetts. Tyrol says the small metal trap door that opens and closes can get stuck open or blown open, "It's just like having an open window. You've got a four-inch diameter hole that's just letting all your heat out through the dryer and letting all the cold air in." That's why sometimes the coldest room in the house can be the laundry room.

Tyrol discovered a product that his company now sells that prevents air leakage. The Clothes Dryer Vent Seal costs under $20 and helps keep out more than just cold air.

"It will reduce unwanted air infiltration, and keep out pests, bees and rodents as well. The vent will remain closed unless the dryer is in use. When the dryer is in use, a floating shuttle rises to allow warm air, lint and moisture to escape," Tyrol says.

A second common culprit for heat loss is the attic stairway.

"When attic stairs are installed, a large hole approximately 10-square feet is created in your ceiling. The ceiling and insulation that were there have to be removed, leaving only a thin, unsealed, sheet of plywood," explains Tyrol.

Because attics are often ventilated directly to the outdoors, in the summer they are extremely hot and in the winter they can be freezing and if only a thin sheet of plywood separates the attic from the house, there's little protection from heat loss.

Tyrol said that gaps around the door are often visible.

"Try this yourself: at night, turn on the attic light and shut the attic stairway door -- do you see any light coming through? These are gaps that add up to a large opening where your heated/cooled air leaks out 24 hours a day. This is like leaving a window open all year round," warns Tyrol.

An easy, do-it-yourself installation product that costs $29.50 provides a seal and keeps the cold air out. Insulation can be added over the Attic Stair Cover to restore the insulation that was removed from the ceiling.

The third significant area of heat loss is through the fireplace. A recent study showed that for many consumers, their heating bills may be more than $500 higher per winter due to the air leakage and wasted energy caused by fireplaces.

"A lot of fireplaces have dampers that you open and close and they're not designed to be airtight, so the chimney acts like a giant straw and it pulls the heat right out of the house," says Tyrol.

But the use of an inflatable, non-flammable pillow that can be placed up inside the chimney can block air from escaping.

"What it does is seal the fireplace airtight so that none of your heat can go out of the chimney and none of the cold air or toxins, such as the things that are inside the chimney, insects, sounds, any of that can come back in the house," says Tyrol.

The fireplace draftstopper sells for $45 and is completely safe -- even if you were to accidentally light your fireplace with the pillow still in place.

"First of all there's a bright reflective orange, I'll call it a warning label, it's really a reminder to deflate it and remove it. But if somehow that's overlooked, as soon as the fire heats it will just fall down on top of the fire and it's non-flammable so it will just smother the fire," explains Tyrol.

For more information visit www.batticdoor.com.

Published: October 11, 2004

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Reduce Your Heating Bills This Winter

By Mark D. Tyrol, P.E.
Battic Door Energy Conservation Products

Imagine leaving a window open all winter long -- the heat loss, cold drafts and wasted energy! If your home has a folding attic stair, fireplace or clothes dryer, that may be just what is occurring in your home every day.

These often overlooked sources of heat loss and air leakage can cause heat to pour out and the cold outside air to rush in -- costing you higher heating bills.

Air leaks are the largest source of heating and cooling loss in the home. Air leaks occur through the small cracks around doors, windows, pipes, etc. Most homeowners are well aware of the benefits caulk and weatherstripping provide to minimize heat loss and cold drafts.

But what can you do about the three largest “holes” in your home -- the folding attic stair, the fireplace and the clothes dryer? Here are some tips and techniques that can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes.

Attic Stairs

When attic stairs are installed, a large hole (approximately 10 square feet) is created in your ceiling. The ceiling and insulation that were there have to be removed, leaving only a thin, unsealed, sheet of plywood.

Your attic space is ventilated directly to the outdoors. In the winter, the attic space can be very cold, and in the summer it can be very hot. And what is separating your conditioned house from your unconditioned attic? That thin sheet of plywood.

Often a gap can be observed around the perimeter of the door. Try this yourself: at night, turn on the attic light and shut the attic stairway door -- do you see any light coming through? These are gaps add up to a large opening where your heated/cooled air leaks out 24 hours a day. This is like leaving a window open all year round.

An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add an attic stair cover. An attic stair cover provides an air seal, reducing the air leaks. Add the desired amount of insulation over the cover to restore the insulation removed from the ceiling.

Fireplaces

Sixty-five percent, or approximately 100 million homes, in North America are constructed with wood or gas burning fireplaces. Unfortunately there are negative side effects that the fireplace brings to a home especially during the winter home-heating season. Fireplaces are energy losers.

Researchers have studied this to determine the amount of heat loss through a fireplace, and the results are amazing. One research study showed that an open damper on an unused fireplace in a well-insulated house can raise overall heating-energy consumption by 30 percent.

A recent study showed that for many consumers, their heating bills may be more than $500 higher per winter due to the air leakage and wasted energy caused by fireplaces.

Why does a home with a fireplace have higher heating bills? Hot air rises. Your heated air leaks out any exit it can find, and when warm heated air is drawn out of your home, cold outside air is drawn in to make up for it. The fireplace is like a giant straw sucking the heated air from your house.

An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a fireplace draftstopper. Available from Battic Door, a company known for their energy conservation products, a fireplace draftstopper is an inflatable pillow that seals the damper, eliminating any air leaks. The pillow is removed whenever the fireplace is used, then reinserted after.

Clothes Dryer Exhaust Ducts

In many homes, the room with the clothes dryer is the coldest room in the house. Your clothes dryer is connected to an exhaust duct that is open to the outdoors. In the winter, cold air leaks in through the duct, through your dryer and into your house.

Dryer vents use a sheet-metal flapper to try to reduce this air leakage. This is very primitive technology that does not provide a positive seal to stop the air leakage. Compounding the problem is that over time, lint clogs the flapper valve causing it to stay open.

An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a dryer vent seal. This will reduce unwanted air infiltration, and keep out pests, bees and rodents as well. The vent will remain closed unless the dryer is in use. When the dryer is in use, a floating shuttle rises to allow warm air, lint and moisture to escape.

For more information on Battic Door’s energy conservation solutions and products, visit www.batticdoor.com or send a S.A.S.E. to P.O. Box 15, Mansfield, MA 02048.

Mark D. Tyrol is a Professional Engineer specializing in cause and origin of construction defects. He developed several residential energy conservation products including an attic stair cover and a fireplace draftstopper. To learn more visit www.batticdoor.com.

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Got Attic Mold? Lets Talk Energy Conservation!

By Mark D. Tyrol, P.E.
Battic Door Energy Conservation Products

It happens to countless homeowners around the end of the year – you make the annual visit to your attic to collect the holiday decorations and what do you find? Spots and blotches covering the bottom of the roof sheathing. Worse yet – it turns out to be attic mold!

What does energy conservation have to do with mold in the attic? Well if you take a step back and consider how the house behaves as system, they are often directly related.

Building science experts have long been using the “house as a system” approach to diagnose the cause and origin of building defects.

For example, ice dams. These are often caused by warm air seeping into the attic which causes the snow and ice on the roof to melt. The water drains to the edge of the roof (which is colder than the rest of the roof because it is an overhang and not warmed by the attic), freezes and creates an ice dam. As this process is repeated daily, the ice dam grows larger. Eventually water is forced under a shingle where it can seep into the house.

Understanding how the house behaves as a system and the various causes and effects is necessary to diagnose most building related problems.

But how about that attic mold? How did it get there?

Mold requires chronic moisture to form and to thrive, so source(s) of moisture must be present. Possibly the moisture came from outdoors. The roof is newer and a quick check of the roof shows no obvious damage or leaks.

Possibly the moisture came from indoors. During the heating season, the interior of the house frequently has high moisture levels, especially bathrooms and kitchens. A quick check shows that all bathroom fans, kitchen vents, etc. are properly ducted completely outdoors and not into the attic. The amount of insulation looks good and the attic is well ventilated.

Don’t give up – you are almost there! Remember the house as a system? You know that warm, moist air is in the house, but how is it getting into the attic?

By air leaks! Air leaks are the leading source of energy loss in most houses, and a frequent source of chronic moisture that can cause attic mold. Most homeowners are well aware of air leaks around windows and doors (especially old ones), but many overlook the numerous gaps leading directly into the attic!

Have a look around the attic and you may find large gaps around recessed lights and fans, holes where wires or pipes are installed, even large gaps around the chimney. And don’t overlook the whole house fan and especially the folding attic stair - a big, uninsulated hole in your ceiling that is often overlooked!

These gaps can add up to a large hole that allows warm, moist air from the house to flow right into the cold attic. The warm moist air condenses on the cold roof sheathing, creating chronically damp conditions that can lead to attic mold growth. And the energy loss – it can be like leaving a window open all winter long!

Seal these air leaks and you stop a significant moisture source. And just think of all the energy you can save and the cold drafts you can stop!

Mark D. Tyrol is a Professional Engineer specializing in cause and origin of construction defects. He developed several residential energy conservation products including an attic stair cover and a fireplace draftstopper. To learn more visit www.batticdoor.com.

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