How hot is the attic?
 

If I put plastic trash bags filled with small ornament boxes in the attic space, can/will it catch fire due to the heat? I have original boxes for some of my collectibles that I would like to keep, but want to keep them out of the way.

Catch fire? Probably not. Hot enough to melt the plastic bags and have it stick to your boxes? Quite possibly. It can melt the thickest pillar candles. Had a friend who stored some Tupperware in the attic that all melted together.

Course you wouldn't want to store any combustibles or aerosol cans up there. IMO it would have to have ignition source. You attic may reach temps over 120 degrees and can damage things stored up there. I put a thermometer at attic floor level and temp at 3 pm on 90 degree day was 117F. Temps could rech. 130F depending on insulation and circulation of out air and of course outside afternoon temps.

I do have stuff stored up there and at my old house in OK which temps have reached 111 and attic temps was over 125F at 4pm in the heat of the day.

You don't want to store any cardboard or paper up there as it can attract insects. (They eat the cardboard, i. e., cellulose.)

Just for comparison, I keep my attic fan in my NY home set to turn on at 120 degrees. On a hot day it runs. Attics get really hot wherever you are.

Radiant Heat Barrier
 

The best investment we made here in The Villages was to have Radiant Heat Barrier installed under the roof. It looks like aluminum foil, but it cools the attic by about 25 - 30 degrees. They also lined the inside of the garage door. Our garage was so hot before we put this in that we had to race to the car to get the AC on before we passed out. Now the garage is about the same temperature as it is outside. I know the house AC is not running nearly as hard as it used to run.

You will discover over time the plastic bags break down and become very brittle and disintegrate. You find that out when you pick one up and all that is left is the part in your hand.
Get more suitable not biodegradable containers.

thank you all for your advice, think I'll just throw all the boxes out, not worth the trouble to keep them.

I put the solar powers attic fan from Solar Guys in my CYV a few years ago to help bring the attic temps down. I feel that it is doing a good job circulating the air in the garage and lowering the temps there. I also insulated my garage doors myself. That has definitely dropped the temps in my garage during the summer months. It was like an oven in there before, now much more comfortable since we have the washer and dryer there. My garage doors are west facing and they were like furnaces. I also have a fan that I installed in the peak of my garage in Connecticut with a thermostat set at 120. That fan starts around 10-11 AM during the summer months and stops around 7-8PM at night.

attic
 

For all you worry warts. Have stored many things in our attics since 2001 and have moved too many times to count still have moving boxes from a move from South FL in 2000 used over 9 times and still good and have never seen a bug plastic seem to be fine so far I just may be lucky

Who did you get to do the work? We are very interested in doing this. What was the cost?

Thanks!

Radiant Barrier
 

The company that did our attic was Energy Home Shield from Ocala. (352)873-7857. We have a Villa, and the total bill was $1700 two years ago.

Other problems mentioned in this thread--maybe, but fire---NO. The auto-ignition point for paper is 451 F, as immortalized in Ray Bradbury's novel

When it's 100 outside, it sure is going to be 100 in attic even with an exhaust fan, but air is better circulated then still. Yes, plastic bags do break up from the heat in attic. Best bet is plastic containers with covers, Not cardboard. Cardboard has glue on them, and rodents and bugs like eating. Best bet for storing in attic is solid stuff like dishes, small furniture, but not wreaths etc. I learned a lesson!!! hehehehe

from what I've heard you made a smart choice. Instead of attic fans/vents a Radiant heat barrier is the best attic investment we can make. Would you be willing to post/recommend the company that installed it for you and the approximate cost per sq ft?

TIA