I recently visited a friends house under construction, and was giving him ideas on how to make his house more energy efficient. I suggested putting his attic access in his fully enclosed, unheated front porch to reduce the stack effect. (the trusses are open to the porch in the attic)
Do you think I made a good suggestion?
It might have been easier to just seal off and insulate the attic opening.IMHO
I can see how it would reduce leakage, but how do you figure it will reduce the stack effect?
Im thinking of air leakage, if there were no attic access to leak, then the house would draw less air.
Am I fighting over straws?
Since this is the Thermal Imaging Thread, would the camera not show all the leakage of the access, lack of seal vapor barriers, leakage of pot lights, sealants missing at the rough framing and etc.?:)
I don’t think so.
Most of the attic access openings leak like a sieve.
Would the camera not pick up all that I asked?
I don’t think so…
If the delta T is right, the answer would be yes.
Not sure if you want to attribute it to stack effect, but it certainly contributes greatly to summer heat gain & winter heat loss. Not to mention the effect of leaking unconditioned air into nearby returns.
Good image Chuck.
Great image and very nice web site!
I like your 10 questions…
Pretty cool shot Chuck.
Thanks. 
Depends are there any codes that may apply on a new house that might indicate an alternate location?
The attic should be outside the conditioned space and therefore the pull down stairs should be as well. We isolate the stair with a 2X10 frame and insulate to R-38. When you pull the stairs down there is a piece of plywood with a handle facing you so you can lift the insulation out of the way when you come up the stairs.
Inexpensive cover like this one seems to work.
http://www.jrproductsinc.com/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=35&idproduct=301:)
This home had no access to this portion of the attic. You could have used this room as a tanning bed.
I’d be nervous about a fron’t porch scuttle from a security standpoint. Does the home not have a garage?
Thanks for the comments David & John.
Prospective clients seem to like the 10 questions. It generates lots of hits on SERPs too.
No attached garage, and did not think of security. If someone wanted in that bad, I’m sure they would find a way.
Hey Mario. I followed the link… That gal in the picture is pretty but how does she help the heat loss? 
