Attic Door Cover 6th Gen

I had covered the construction of this attic door cover in my previous blogs. This is the 6th generation version for my friend's new home. Attic door covers are even more relevant today. Although it is a small part in the energy saving scheme of things at home, it is a worthy item to add to the woodworker's repertoire. As always, a newer version has better construction technique, such as better joinery for a much sturdier frame. But as in the previous versions the idea is the same. The attic for most homes is a major source for "energy leakage". The standard cover that comes with the attic ladder  insufficiently covers the gap between the inside of the house and the attic. In the winter heat escapes through that gap from inside the house to the attic; in the summer, heat from the attic migrates to the inside of the house, making the air conditioning system work harder.

The first version for our home is shown here. The attic cover sits on the opening, insulated but separate from the ladder and cover (which I also insulated)

As in the past, I find it economical to buy wider board material and rip them to width (1-1/4 in). The frame will be made from these pieces.

For this version I am using half lap joinery to join the parts. A stack dado blade will make quick work of cutting the half-laps.

Before cutting the half dadoes it is best - trust me, this was from experience -  to patiently lay out the pieces before making the cuts, almost one at a time.  Patience here is the ultimate virtue.

Laying the parts out, dry fitting them, and exercising patience over and over will pay off.

Glue up must also be planned in specific sequences. Again, it must be planned because the parts had to come together in a particular order.

The wood working adage, "One can never have too much clamps" is always true. Better to have more than be short one clamp. Note: the Krenov saw horse is more invaluable than the standard work bench by allowing the clamps to be positioned a lot more freely.

As a side note the half lap is the perfect way to join shorter pieces of stock to make a longer one. Here, I actually made a mistake in cutting a long piece short and I no longer had the longer stock to make another one. 

Tip On Joining Plywood: Instead of buying one whole 4 X 8 ft sheet of 1/4 inch plywood, I purchased one 4 X 4 and one 2 X 4. Not only is it easier to take out of the home center and into the car, it is also a lot easier and safer to cut on the table saw. But there is a downside. To fit the different sides of the frame there was need to cut and join the pieces. Not a problem. A half lap joinery makes one strong joint, especially since the pieces will be glued and pin-nailed to the frame. Once put in, the finished "shell" will not "know" the difference.

The sturdy frame is now with 1/4 inch plywood shell.  I may have slightly over-engineered this one.  Come to think of it, I may have indeed over-engineered this one. 

This is what the cover will look like viewed from the attic side. It will sit on a gasket seal - isolating the attic from the interior of the home. This Generation 6 has more heft than the previous ones so it will have sufficient weight bearing down on the gasket.

Once the Styrofoam insulation is added to the inside it will look similar to the first version shown below.