Sealing Your Corpus Christi Home: an Introduction to Caulk

When it comes air sealing your Corpus Christi home, it is critical to select the right caulking type for the job. While you can readily purchase most caulking products at any home-improvement store, selecting the right compound for a given area ensures a durable seal.

The interior and exterior areas of your home are composed of different materials and are subject to varying elements. Using the correct caulk to seal your home’s leaks results in a more airtight home that improves HVAC-equipment efficiency and performance, reduces home energy bills and contributes to a better indoor environment.

To help you navigate the different types of caulk available, read this simple introduction to caulk:

• Silicon: The most commonly used sealing type is silicon-based. This caulk is a preferred sealant for bathroom tiles and fixtures. If you want to seal around building materials like brick and metal flashing, use a higher-grade construction silicon caulk. Silicon is popular because of its tight seal, resilience to shrinking and easy cleanup.
• Polyurethane: Polyurethane caulk is more commonly known as spray-foam caulk. It is ideal for the larger gaps in your home’s interior and exterior spaces. Simply spray the compound where the gap is, and it will expand to cover the area.
• Foam: This water-based sealant is best used around window and door frames, although it can also be used for the smaller gaps around your house. Once applied, this caulk will expand by 25 percent.
• Butyl rubber: Butyl rubber is ideal for joining different types of material such as plastic, metal, wood, glass and concrete. It doesn’t create as tight of a seal as the above types, but it does expand up to 30 percent.

To learn more about caulk and weatherizing your home, contact CCAC. We are your air conditioning, heating and indoor-air quality experts in the Coastal Bend area.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Corpus Christi, Texas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about caulking and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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