The Importance of Air Sealing

Each year, many homeowners across Michigan face the problem of keeping hot from escaping or entering, depending on the season, through different places in their home. These air leaks can cause quite uncomfortable temperatures inside a home and lead to rather expensive electricity bills. It can be a challenge to identify the exact places where the air is escaping as most of the time these places are hidden behind the walls and construction 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 both hot might be escaping in the winter or entering in the summer. Once these places are identified, air sealing techniques and weather stripping 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 location of the air leakage. Air sealing is important in allowing your heating and cooling 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 air escaping. 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 through in 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. Also, in the winter months, as your warm air is rising and reaches your attic, 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.

Windows & Doors

Windows and doors are usually the first places that come to mind when you think of where a majority of your home’s hot and cold air is escaping from because these are the places where we can actually feel air escaping. For this reason, it is also one of the most common places that need to be air sealed in your home.

Floor

Just as air can escape through your roof, it can also seep out through the floors in your home. It could be that there isn’t adequate or proper insulation installed in your floors allowing this air to escape. Also, check for any cracks at the perimeter of the floor that can be sealed.

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 Ecotelligent Homes. 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!