Air sealing, along with insulation, is one of the most crucial things you can do to increase your home’s comfort, health, and energy efficiency—but both homeowners and contractors frequently ignore it.
What is home air sealing?
Simply put, air sealing a house involves finding leakage points and reducing the possibility of unwelcome airflow inside the structure. This improves the home’s energy efficiency and makes a living more comfortable.
It can be found throughout a house, from the attic to the cellar, and everywhere. While some of these points, like windows and doors, outlets, or baseboards, are fairly easy to find, others, like ducts, recessed lighting, drop ceilings, attic access, fireplace walls, or garage walls, can be challenging to locate.
Why might homeowners wish to air seal their residence?
Every home needs adequate ventilation.
Both natural and mechanical airflow—such as the exhaust from your furnace—help keep mold and mildew from growing in your home. Automatic airflow keeps undesired and occasionally even hazardous air out of your home.
The issue is that excessive airflow is a problem in many homes, especially older ones. Your foundation, attic, and wall joists all have openings and gaps that allow air to enter. Find out here how to locate air leaks in your home.
These holes might each be as little as a dime or even smaller, but when added together, they pose a significant issue. In reality, we discovered via our audits of thousands of homes that many homes exchange air at a rate that is 3–4 times higher than necessary, which is the equivalent of leaving a window open year-round. That’s a lot of electricity wasted, letting allergens and dampness into your house.
In this situation, air sealing is useful.
In order to make sure that your home has all the fresh air you require—without making you uncomfortable—air sealing addresses the issue of surplus airflow. Additionally, it aids in preventing excessive moisture from entering, safeguarding the general health and structural integrity of your investment.
Air Leakage: Why Is It Bad?
A few significant signs of air leakage exist. The biggest one is when the temperature in your home significantly varies between floors. Hot air rises in a house or any other building. A place with good insulation retains heat inside of it, maintaining a steady temperature.
During our renovation, we found a significant hole in the drywall near the top of the ceiling in the master bedroom’s eave. HVAC systems struggle to keep up if this much air is seeping into your climate-controlled environment.
A house with air leaks will enable air to circulate within, resulting in temperature differences across floors. A decent general rule of thumb is that the foundations of your house should be three degrees apart. There is a big chance of air leakage if it is greater than that.
A draft in your home is another sign of air leakage. It’s a common misperception that a draft is beneficial because it keeps the air circulating and allows fresh air to enter the house. There are inefficiencies and openings in the building envelope if a breeze goes through the house.
Many inefficiencies in a house are brought on by air leakage. High electric expenses can result from a draft or stack effect because the air conditioner or heater must run longer to compensate for the temperature changes.
A house has systems for air filtration and airflow, and it is built to function in a particular way. Air leakage puts such systems under additional strain and makes it practically impossible for them to work correctly.
This leads to expensive electricity bills or maybe just uncomfortable living conditions. It might be challenging to control a significant temperature variation across house floors. Sometimes the origin is plain to see. It can sometimes be challenging to pinpoint the source, although it may be a leaking window, door, or electrical outlet.
Can you air seal your home by yourself?
Since we are specialists in air sealing, we may be a little prejudiced, but the fact remains that air sealing is a time-consuming task that takes both technical know-how and an in-depth understanding of how air moves through dwellings.
Before they arrive at your door, air sealing pros receive a ton of on-the-job training and experience. (Sealing a house effectively also requires patience and perseverance. Finding and sealing all those cracks and fissures is a lot of tedious, unpleasant job.)
If you don’t know what you’re doing, air sealing can be simple to make wrong. Do you recall the open window from earlier in this guide?
Even the most passionate and self-assured do-it-yourselfer will still leave two-thirds of a window open if air sealing is performed improperly. By that time, the problems with the excess airflow in your home have not been fixed, and you have wasted time and money.
Last but not least, improper air sealing could result in an unhealthy balance of airflow or over-tightening of your home.
When air sealing your home, get professional advice. It is worthwhile.
Poor insulation is probably the cause of any cold or drafty spots in your house. According to Energystar.gov, nine out of ten American homes are under-insulated.
An adequately weatherized house will keep the heat and cool air inside, saving you money and energy while enhancing comfort and benefiting the environment. We provide weatherization home improvements for pennies on the dollar as a Mass Save® partner!
Head on to Suffolkwx.com to learn more about the insulation incentives offered to you!