Finding and Sealing Air Leaks

Typical locations for air leaks in your home.

Air leaks in your walls, ceilings, and floors can waste up to 30 percent of the energy consumed by your heating and cooling equipment!

Holes and gaps in your home’s shell also allow moisture, insects, dust and pollutants to enter your home. Sealing air leaks reduce this energy loss as well as keeps these environmental contaminants under control. A properly sealed home is also more comfortable and will reduce your utility consumption by several hundred dollars a year.

Evaluate Your Home’s Air Leakage

Do you notice drafts in your home? Drafts indicate that air is moving through your home’s shell. This air leakage is costly and very uncomfortable. It carries heated air out of your home in winters and cool air out in summer.

If you live in cold, dry climate, do you notice a lot of static electricity in the winter? Excess air leakage in these climates tends to dry out your home and encourage the production of static electricity.

Do you hear a lot of outdoor noise while inside your home? Cracks and holes in your home’s shell allow both outdoor air and sound to pass into your home. It is a fact that well-sealed homes are quieter than homes that are not.

Finding Air Leaks in your Home

We recommend that you have a home energy audit performed on your home that includes a blower door test. It is the most affordable and the best way to detect problem areas in your home. The door test is used to determine what level of savings are available from air-sealing projects. Here is a video of Casey performing a typical blower door test for a home in Denver:

[wistia videoid=”vlam75raav”]

Another way to help with air leaks after properly sealing the cracks is adding more insulation to your walls, ceilings or floors. To read more about that, visit our page about our insulation services. If you are interested in having a home energy audit, blower door test or added insulation to your home, please contact REenergizeCO (303) 227-1000.