Seal up your home
Up to 15% of a home’s heat gain comes through gaps around its exterior. To overcome this, ensure draught proofing is installed around all external doors and windows, and seal all other gaps to the outside.
Preventing common sources of draughts
All external doors require draught proofing both at their bases, and between the door and door jamb. Windows should have weather-sealing tape installed between the sash and the frame. Don’t forget to seal doors leading to the garage.
Products which seal gaps around doors and windows are known as draught excluders, draught strips, draught-seals, weather seals or weather strips. Most are cheap to buy, and can be easily installed.
Ventilation
Open up doors and windows once it is cooler outside. At night, consider leaving windows open to flush out hot air and allow the house to cool down.
Running exhaust fans can help speed up this process, especially on still nights, or if your windows do not face the prevailing cool breezes.
If you have limited ability to open up your home, whole-house extractor fans can be used. They are similar to large exhaust fans and help expel hot internal air replacing it with cooler outside air. |
Cross-ventilation can provide much of your summer cooling needs
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Air Infiltration into Your Home is Taking Money Out of Your Pocket
Properly insulating your home can save hundreds of dollars a year off of your home heating and cooling bills. However, even before you worry about insulation, you need to deal with air infiltration. Air infiltration is about drafts - air leaking into or out of your home. Your home will never be energy efficient if it has air leaks. Think of your home as if it were a swimming pool. If your pool was leaking water, would worry about heating the water you have to constantly add or would you worry about stopping the leaks. So it is with your home, you have to stop the leaks first.
You may consider hiring an energy auditor to professionally evaluate your home. They can help you locate leaks, assess your insulation needs and provide you with a report that will help you decide what needs to be done, and where your money is best spent. An comprehensive audit will help you to reduce your energy bills while improving the comfort of your home. Even if you don't hire an energy auditor, there are plenty of things you can do yourself.
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Start by Detecting Air Leaks
An energy auditor will conduct a blower door test. A blower door is a powerful fan that mounts into the frame of an exterior door. The fan pulls air out of the house, lowering the air pressure inside. The higher outside air pressure then flows in through all unsealed cracks and openings. An auditor then can measure the amount of air infiltration and using a smoke tool, can pinpoint the source of leaks.
If you plan to find the leaks yourself, one method is to wait for a windy day. A windy day makes it much easier to locate drafts. First, turn off the heater, air conditioner or any other ventilation equipment. Close all exterior doors, windows and close the fireplace damper. Turn on your stove and bathroom ventilation fans. Light an incense stick and move it near possible points of air infiltration. If the smoke is sucked in or blown away, there is a draft and it should be sealed. This can still work without wind, but drafts are more difficult to detect. If you have a heavy duty fan, you might even be able to rig up your own blower door test by placing the fan in the door, facing out, and sealing around it with plastic and duct tape.
Common Points of Air Infiltration:
Wherever different materials meet, such as between wood siding and brick or between the chimney and the ceiling, there is the potential for gaps. Also, inspect the following areas for any cracks and gaps that could cause air leaks:
- Doors - both between the door and the jamb and between the jamb and the wall.
- Windows - both around the window frame and between the frame and the wall
- Mail chutes - around the mail chute, also make sure it closes tightly
- Any place where pipes or wires pass through a wall.
- Around window air contioners
- Light switches and electrical outlets, especially on exterior walls
Sealing Your Home
Sealing air gaps will require different materials depending upon the application. Rubber gaskets are available for switches and electrical outlets and are installed beneath the cover plate. Caulking can be used to seal between different materials such as between stucco and wood siding. Caulking is also useful around exterior door and window casings and where pipes and wires pass through a wall. Expanding foam may be useful for filling larger or difficult to access gaps and gaps around door and window jambs where they meet the surrounding wall framing.
Sealing air leaks will make your home more comfortable and will result in lowered energy consumption for heating and cooling. Newer homes are built much more tightly than ever before and so much attention is paid to ensuring adequate ventilation. If you successfully seal your home, you must also implement a ventilation strategy. Indoor air pollutants can build to unhealthful levels and so proper ventilation must also be provided. Furthermore, homes that burn natural gas, propane, fuel oil or wood must also make certain that adequate air supply is available for combustion so that a dangerous back draft condition does not pull combustion gases back into the home. |
How Does the Air Escape?
Air Infiltrates into and out of your home through every hole, nook, and cranny.
About one-third of this air infiltrates through openings in your ceilings, walls, and floors.
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Reduced Air Infiltration
Many ENERGY STAR qualified new homes feature tighter construction than that of homes built to the Model Energy Code. Tighter house construction can improve the energy efficiency, air quality, and comfort of your home by eliminating unwanted drafts.
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Tighter home construction can offer you:
- Improved comfort — reduces drafts, noise, and moisture.
- Improved indoor air quality — keeps dust, pollen, car exhaust, and insects out of the home.
- Lower costs — reduces escape of conditioned air.
Unfortunately, there are hundreds of penetrations through a typical home's exterior. These gaps and holes are often incurred during framing, and from penetrations for wiring, plumbing, and ducts. Air sealing the house's envelope combined with proper ventilation, can reduce your energy bills and eliminate unwanted drafts and pollutants.
Reduced air infiltration combined with proper ventilation can not only reduce your energy bills, but it can also improve the quality of your indoor air. Outdoor air that leaks indoor makes it difficult to maintain comfort and energy efficiency. In addition, air leakage accounts for 25–40% of the energy used for heating and cooling in a typical home. |
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