The hole at the top allows hot or cold attic air to go down through the hole and make the house uncomfortable because drywall has very little r value.
Impact of open chase in attic.
It makes the attic hard to navigate and a place you don t want to spend much time in.
It is a framed area that is not capped off and you can actually see down between the house walls often all the way to the floor below.
The myth that open cell is more economical is bullshit.
A leaky envelope means you re wasting energy wasting money allowing dust and perhaps critters to enter your home and often creating comfort problems.
Shared chimney chase open in attic this is from a 17 year old townhouse i looked at yesterday.
Be sure that the.
An open chase is best observed in the attic.
From a wall switch box to a breaker panel while a chase often simply goes from one open space to another.
I believe that this went into effect in 1992 with ubc 702 8.
The shared chimney chase for the fireplaces is open in the attic and you can see the attached neighbor s flue for their fireplace from inside the attic of the unit i inspected.
Very often dropped soffits and chases are left open to the attic providing big connections between the attic the basement the framing and the outside.
Areas may have open stud cavities leading directly into the attic and can be huge sources of air leaks see photos 1 3 on.
That air also finds holes in the chase walls and goes directly into the house.
As a follow up on my last post what i referred to as a chase is actually called a vertical fire block that has the same function as the horizontal fire block that surrounds the flues of prefabricated chimineys on attic floors.
But upgrading your attic illumination is one of the easiest ways to make the space more inviting and better to organize.
Tips for working in the attic have a plan in place planning.
In this video watch james crawl through a 7 5 x 14 chase opening in a basement.
Open cell foam weighs 1 2 pound per cubic foot and closed cell weighs 2 lbs per cubic foot.
This bathroom framing chase is a trouble spot.
Fireplace chimney creates chase no draft stopping at top plate creates a chase as seen from the attic.
A conduit usually goes from a wall plate or some other firm destination to another solid destination.
There s usually at best a single bare incandescent light bulb that hardly illuminates any of the space.
He then has to shimmy his way up two stories in a wall cavity to seal off an attic opening that was allowing air.
Gather all your tools and supplies before you begin to minimize trips in and out of the attic.