The Importance of Air Sealing

Each year, many homeowners across Wisconsin face the problem of keeping warm air from entering or escaping, depending on the season, into their homes. These air leaks can impact temperatures inside a home and lead to excess energy consumption. It can be challenging to identify the exact places where air is escaping as most of the time these places are hidden behind walls and ceiling of your home. However, a professional can help you identify these places and then perform air sealing to eliminate these drafty areas in your home.

What is air sealing?

Air sealing involves identifying the problem areas of a home where air might be leaking out in the winter or entering in the summer. Once areas are identified, air sealing techniques can be applied to these areas to prevent future air leaks. A wide variety of professionals in the industry will use spray foam insulation and caulk to help seal gaps and use weather strips around doors and windows depending on the extent of air leakage. Air sealing also allows your HVAC system to perform more efficiently potentially leading to lower electricity bills and more comfortable temperatures throughout your home.

Common places in your home that may require air sealing

There are many different places in your home that can be the source of escaping air. It is very common for houses to have cracks and leaks allowing hot and cold air to escape. It’s important to identify these places so that you can air seal each place in order to have an even and comfortable temperature throughout your home. While you may think of the typical places where you feel a slight breeze coming into your home, the following are the most common places in your home that could require air sealing.

Attic

If your home’s attic doesn’t have enough proper insulation and air sealing, this can allow air to escape. In the winter months, as interior warm air is rising and reaches the ceiling, there can be a variety of cracks and holes that lead to the outside of your home. Therefore, it’s important to consider your roof and attic when identifying places where air may be escaping like bath vent fans, attic access areas, and top plates of walls.

Windows & Doors

Windows and doors are usually the first places that come to mind when you think of where a majority of a home’s hot and cold air is escaping because these are the places where we can actually feel air moving. For this reason, windows and doors are usually a top priority for air sealing.

Walls and Sill Boxes

One of the biggest contributors to air loss is through wall top plates in the attic and the perimeter area of each floor. Builders often miss insulating or sealing areas that are hard to access including the area where floor joists terminate. Ensuring that these areas are evaluated and sealed is part of any home air sealing project.

Fireplace

When your fireplace is not in use, it can be a place where air is escaping if it’s not properly sealed. Air sealing your fireplace will prevent all unwanted drafts and leaks leading to more comfortable temperatures in your home.

Benefits of air sealing

There are numerous benefits of air sealing your home including:

• Even temperatures
• A more comfortable and energy-efficient home
• Possible energy tax credits
• Reduces drafts in your home
• Improve indoor air quality
• Better performance of the HVAC system
• Lower energy bills

Finding air leaks in your home

If you are having trouble identifying the exact places where the most air is escaping from your home, schedule a home energy audit with Zander Solutions. One of our home energy consultants will visit your home and perform different home energy efficiency tests in order to identify your home’s problem areas for air leaks. There can be areas of your home where air is escaping aside from the normal assumption of windows and doors that you never even realized. From there, we can perform air sealing throughout your home to improve the overall comfortability and lower your future energy bills. Contact us today to get started with creating a high performance home!