While you're winterizing your home, there's one place that is often overlooked that could be costing you a bundle in heating costs.

Consumer Alert has some ways you can plug those holes and save a lot this year.

Just imagine leaving a window open all winter long -- all that cold air and energy waste. That's exactly what is happening if you have a folding attic stairway that's not insulated.

"If you have attic hatches or pull-down stairs, those act as chimneys in the center of your house and they are just pushing heat up into the attic," said Blaine Illingworth, a house mechanic.

Whether your attic entrance is a pull-down ladder, walk-up stairway, push-up panel or knee-wall door, it is a hole in your insulation barrier.

While the rest of your ceiling is insulated from the cold of your attic and outside, that hatch is often just a piece of plywood and there's usually a quarter-inch gap around the perimeter-- letting your heat escape into the attic.

For very little money, you can insulate that hole and keep your heat in. First. weatherstrip the edges and seal off the gap.

"This is simply to cause a tighter seal of the door to prevent drafts -- the heat from rising and escaping," Illingworth said.

If you have a push-up panel, attach fiberglass batting to the upper side of the door.

If you have a pull-down staircase, you can build a box or cap out of rigid insulation foam that will cover the opening from the top.

There are a number of attic access covers on the market to make insulation easy.

"Our product is the Energy Guardian Access Cover and we have several models that fit the various entrances. In this home, we have pull-down, so our pull-down cover fits right above the opening," said James Melesky, of ESS Energy Products.

"We saved at least $300 on our cooling and heating because of this system up there," said Antoinette Coupe, who has Energy Guardian.

Insulating Your Attic

Ceiling and Attic Insulation and Ventilation

Do It Yourself.com

Energy Guardian Attic Hatch

Dept. Of Energy Insulation Facts

Lowes How-To