Would you like to make your home more energy efficient while only sacrificing two or three hours a weekend? If so, we’ve got eight simple projects for you. Following these suggestions and sealing air leaks in your home will significantly lower your utility bills.
- Seal any recessed lighting fixtures. Many recessed fixtures protrude directly into the attic. When they aren’t properly insulated with a baffle, they can leak air like a sieve.
- Attic stud cavities are another potential air leak problem. When studs are cut short to accommodate the pitch of the roof, the area between the roof and the stud is often left uninsulated. Fill the empty space with unbacked insulated batting.
- Chimney and flue gaps are required in all wood-framed homes. These gaps are potential air leakage areas and should be closed off with a piece of metal flashing. Install the flashing with a bead of high temperature caulking as a safe way of sealing the air leaks.
- Weatherstripping is a great product for sealing air leaks. There is one place that most homeowners never think to use it – around the attic access hatch or door. Creating an airtight seal here will prevent heat loss without compromising your access to the attic.
- Identify all large- and medium-sized cracks in the attic. These can be between joists, in the stud cavities, around air vents and other places. If the space is larger than a quarter-inch wide, fill it with expanding spray foam.
- Find the small air leaks and caulk them with a silicon or acrylic latex caulk. You can find these around electrical boxes and light switches as well as in window trim.
- Ceiling fans can be a source of infiltration if the connection to the electrical box is not sealed properly. The cover should be removed and the gaps around the electrical box caulked. Also where the wires go through the box it should be sealed.
- Seal all windows and doors with weatherstripping and caulk. These are the most common places for heat loss in a home.
Contact us at CCAC, Inc., the Corpus Christi area’s source of interior comfort, for more information about sealing air leaks 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 sealing air leaks and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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