26
Almost certainly a vent for plumbing. It connects to the sewer, so it doesn't need a cap. It's highly likely there's a sink or other fixture nearly below it.
answered Apr 10 '20 at 22:15
Aloysius Defenestrate
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23
There are kits you can buy, where you attach a metal ring to the door and then have a pole you store nearby to reach the ring and pull down on to extend the ladder
20
Short answer : money.
Longer answer:
Inquiring at Google Contracting Services and doing some back of the envelope math, I came up with the following price ranges for the mentioned insulation types.
Spray foam is about $0.15-0.21/square foot/R
Fibreglass batts are about $0.03-0.07/square foot/R
Rigid foam panels are about $0.10-0.15/square foot/R
As we ...
17
"it's sap crystals that have been extruded from the wood due to high attic temperatures. We see more of this sap staining when the wood used for framing was not kiln dried before construction." Inspectapedia
Sap in painted wood will cause staining but it is ok in the attic.
14
I live in Florida too so I know exactly what you mean about hot attics. I had the same problem except for the pvc water pipes. I put up a number of 2 by 8 feet of 3/4 inch plywood on the rafters. Where it was possible to move over some of the cables, I did it. where I couldn't move them, I took some 2x4's, notched them for the wires to go thru and put them ...
12
The blower doesn't go in the attic. The hose and the control cable do. If you took the blower up there you'd also have to carry the insulation up after it.
If you don't have enough hose, request an extension. Leave the blower in your truck or on your trailer unless you can't park near the door or window nearest the attic access point.
11
You're referencing the wrong code section.
Nonmetallic-Sheathed Cable
Romex is covered by article 334 Nonmetallic-Sheathed Cable: Types NM, NMC, and NMS.
Nonmetallic Extensions
Article 382 covers a cable known as FlatWire, or Concealable Nonmetallic Extension (CNE) cable.
Notice that this cable has a single insulation layer over the conductors. Whereas NM ...
11
You don't put blow in above the door. Use batts or cut several layers poly board insulation to mimic slightly less than your attic cover. 4-5 layers will give you good coverage.
This will not provide a perfect barrier but is the recommended way of handling attic openings.bb
10
It's a vent pipe for the plumbing it connects eventually to the sewer.
It will catch a small amount of rain but the rain will stay inside the pipe and eventually reach the sewer.
You're probably not supposed to put rain into the sewer but this pipe catches such a small amount of rain that nobody cares.
9
Fiberglass can be bad for the lungs: http://www.lung.org/healthy-air/home/resources/fiberglass.html
However, for it to be a real issue, one needs a lot of exposure...typically someone that works with it daily as part of their job.
The amount of contact a typical homeowner would be exposed to in their lifetime is not likely something to lose too much sleep ...
9
Contact your local building department, and ask them if this would require a permit, and if you can do the work yourself. That's the only way to know for sure, as different areas have different rules.
You'll likely have to pay a small fee for the permit, and have the work inspected at different stages of the job (or maybe only once it's done). Most areas ...
9
Leave a hardhat or bump helmet (lighter version of a hardhat) by the attic hatch. Put it on when you enter; take it off when you leave.
answered Dec 31 '15 at 22:45
Aloysius Defenestrate
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9
There are electric ladders exactly for this purpose. There is no cool video of this one
but the description says
These stairways are available in 2 different models. One is the S3000 Series which is semi-automatic meaning the door panel will open or close automatically, but the stairway sections must be manually folded or unfolded. The other model is ...
9
OK for the most part these do not go in attics, but can. As long as you have a pretty good attic opening you can fit these in there and I have had to in two story homes - or deal with a mess. In no way am I advocating putting these in attics as a norm but I have done it a couple times with no issues. There were pros/cons - on each that I did it there ...
9
The biggest issue you have venting into the attic is warm, moist air being blown into a somewhat closed area (aside from the grease and particles you have a filter for). If the attic space you vent into is large, and has good ventilation this shouldn't be an issue. If you have to vent into a small portion of the attic and it looks like the moist air will ...
8
Pretty much any fix that you attempt from the inside has the potential to create issues in addition to the primary problem, which is that your chimney isn't properly flashed. Spraying foam or shooting caulking/tar into the gap is very likely to create water traps somewhere in the roof decking, most likely underneath the existing flashing. You would ...
8
Yes, it is safe to touch the insulating jacket of an undamaged NM cable.
However, in the state of California, it may cause cancer to lick the cables.
7
As a firefighter that recently battled a large and rapidly moving fire that appears to have started in the attic, I found myself searching the topic of smoke alarms in attics. Though it is a low percentage of structure fires that begin in the attic, they are not isolated incidents.
Chimney fires can easily extend into attics as well as HVAC units can ignite ...
7
Before I remodeled my house to have vents and radiant barriers and lots of insulation, I did put a water misting system on my roof using PVC pipes and drip mist emitters. The mist emitter was helpful because it broke up the water into a fine mist and sent it into the air, giving me evaporative cooling before the water even touched the roof. Also I had some ...
7
Looks like the sap is coming out of a board from the heat of the attic.
7
Fiberglass can cause mild irritation but is not dangerous. You'll be fine.
7
Adding a little more detail above the other answers, plus recommendations.
Fiberglass is made of fibers of glass (duh!). When you inhale them into your lungs, they are not easily broken down by your body if at all. If you don't like the idea of getting wood or metal particles in your lungs, then you shouldn't inhale glass fibers either. For small ...
7
That material is most likely grit that came off the shingles of the roof. It could have gotten there during a roof replacement when old shingles were removed and roof sheathing was also replaced.
If the material is localized in just one area it is possible it got there even from the original construction if shingles were piled and opened on the roof before ...
7
That board is likely nailed to the top of the 2x4 wall framing and provides a nailing surface for the ceiling finish material. Yes, you can drill through it. It’s called a nailer, is not structural, and is not a beam.
7
The load will be transferred to the supports mostly based on how you stack it, not how the sheets are laid.
OSB has a dedicated (and labeled) strength axis. It's normally lengthwise with the sheet. While your OSB may be thick enough that it doesn't much matter, it's almost never appropriate to run it parallel to the joists. If you don't have a compelling ...
6
We specify a "heat detector" in the attic and crawl spaces of all our homes. A "smoke detector" will pick up a neighbor's burn barrel smoke (products of combustion) but a heat detector operates on the "rate-of-rise" principle. That is to say, when the attic gets hot quickly (not just from a hot summer day) then it will go into "alarm".
This is the same ...
6
yes - these are elements of the truss system which holds up your roof. Usually, any 2x4 you find in an attic is safe to step on - except for small pieces uses to mount vent pipes.
6
Add the cellulose right on top, I have seen folks remove the old but this is crazy both materials are insulation and combined the provide a higher R value. I would caution if all the moisture issues are not taken care of cellulose will pick up moisture and hold it longer than fiberglass.
6
I've been in no less than 300 attics and every one of then has had dust, grey dust, in them. Your attic has soffits installed to vent the attic. You also have vent pipes going through the roof to vent caps that allow some backdraft into the attic. If you've ever had your roof redone, stuff will be knocked down. Mold needs a fare amount of moisture and most ...
6
I've run into this often and have become very successful at getting into corners of the attic I never thought I'd be able to. Sometimes you have to flat crawl on the joists.
What has also worked is cutting out a square in the wall inside the room at the ceiling height and using that as a pull station. You will probably have to drill through a sill plate but ...
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