How to Seal Air Leaks in Your Home
Posted on 10. Sep, 2009 by Grace in Energy Efficient Homes, Energy Saving Tips
Here are some tips which can help you seal air leaks in your home, which don’t require any large out-of-pocket expenditures.
- Test how air-tight your home is. On a windy day, light a candle or an incense stick near common areas of air leakage, such as the sides of windows, door frames, electrical outlets, plumbing fixtures, electrical boxes, attic hatches, and ceiling fixtures. Check whether the smoke travels horizontally. Once you have located where the air leaks, start using caulk, seals, or weather strips to close up holes and cracks and prevent more air leakage.
- For leaks in windows and doors, use weather strips or caulk.
- Do not forget to seal walls, ceilings, floors, and plumbing in your house, using caulk or other types of sealants.
- Check for spots in your carpets or ceilings paints. More often than not, these dirty spots indicate that air is leaking from your home. Rather than removing the carpet or replacing the ceiling, you can use low-expansion spray foam which is made to seal the air in your home. On the other hand, if the dirty spots are on the walls, floors, or ceiling joints, you can use a caulk to seal the air in and prevent leaks.
- Double-pane windows are more effective than single-pane windows, in sealing air inside a home.
- Make sure you close the flue damper properly and tightly if you aren’t using the fireplace. Warm air can escape from your chimney unless you close it tightly.
- For newly built homes, try installing house wraps on exterior walls, to reduce air leakage.
- If there are gaps in your windows, doorframes, or baseboards, which allow air to leak, you can try using a foam sealant.
- Use the exhaust fans in your kitchen properly. Turning them off whenever you are not using them can assist greatly in preventing warm air from leaving your house.
- Check the bottom of your door. If there are sealing gaskets, find a way to cover the bottom of the door so as to eliminate the chances of air leakage.
- Flues in a fireplace are prone to breakage. When this happens, it creates a channel for warm or cool air to escape. You can put chimney balloons, which can be easily inflated whenever you’re not using your fireplace flue.
To read the next post in the Energy Efficiency Series, please visit Heating and Cooling Your Home.
