Seal Air Leaks; Save Energy
As heating season winds down but it’s too soon to turn on the air conditioner, early spring is a great time to seal the air leaks in your home.
Heating and cooling your home costs
money, yet most homes let some of that con- ditioned air escape to the outdoors through tiny “leaks” around the home, like cracks around windows, doors that don’t close quite tightly enough; and holes in walls that allow cable, telephone, sump pump and electrical lines to enter the building.
Those same holes and cracks allow hot air to seep into your air conditioned home from the outside during the summer, and cold air to sneak in during the winter. No matter if conditioned air is getting outside or fresh air is coming in, the result is the same: Your heating or air condition- ing system has to do extra work to keep the indoor air at the temperature you like. So find those leaks and seal them. Here
are two tips:
1. On a windy day, light a stick of incense or a match indoors and hold it near each window, door, electrical box, plumbing fixture, electrical outlet, ceiling fixture, attic hatch and anywhere else where you see an opening that lets something from the outside in. If the smoke moves, you have found an air leak.
2. Plug the leaks. You can do that by applying caulk right into the hole or crack. You also can install weather-stripping around doors and windows. You also can:
• Install foam gaskets behind outlet and switch plates on walls.
• Reattach attic insulation that is droop- ing away from the walls and roof. It should touch the surface it’s meant to protect. • Cover windows with plastic or install storm windows. (Even better, replace single- pane windows with double-pane models.) • Close the fireplace flue damper when you’re not using it.
Cold Spots can Indicate Air Leaks, Poor Insulation
If some of the rooms in your house are too cold while others are too hot, you might need more insulation in your attic. Cold air that seeps into your attic doesn’t have to find its way into the home’s living space. Adequate at- tic insulation, properly installed, can catch it.
If your floor is so cold you have to wear socks with your slippers, check the insulation level in your basement or crawl space. Just as cold air in the attic doesn’t have to make your home cold, neither does cold air from the crawl space.
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