Air Sealing Your Home, The Why and How

Air sealing your home can have various benefits. It can maintain healthy indoor air quality, reduce the burden on your air conditioner and most importantly, save energy. If you want to learn more about why you should air seal your home and how you can do it, keep reading! The pros at Mattioni have prepared a guide to help you out.

Air Sealing Your Home: The WHY

Here are some reasons why you should consider air sealing your home:

1. Improved Indoor Air Quality

By making sure your home is airtight, you can ensure your indoor air quality is in good condition. If there are limited outdoor allergens, toxins and dust making their way indoors, you will be more comfortable and less prone to allergies.

2. It Saves Energy

According to the Department of Energy, air sealing and adding insulation to your attic, floors, walls and crawlspaces can save you up to 20% on heating and cooling costs and 10% on your overall energy costs. So, if you want to make sure your energy bill is decreasing, seal up the air leaks in your home and notice the difference!

3. It Lessens the Burden on Your AC

If you have an air conditioner working tirelessly to cool your home but several air leaks that bring in unconditioned, hot air indoors, it will place an unnecessary burden on your AC. Your air conditioner will end up running constantly and working overtime to get the set temperature. By sealing up your home, you can prevent the unneeded strain on your AC.

Air Sealing Your Home: The How

Now that you know air sealing is good for your home, here are some ways you can start sealing up air leaks.

1. Weatherstripping

Weatherstripping is essentially the process of sealing home air leaks, especially doors and windows. You can use material such as caulk and weatherstripping made of felt, foam, and vinyl to add around your doors and windows. This can prevent air leaks and even increase window/door durability during extreme weather.

2. Insulate Outlets

Air leaks can come from outlets as well. To seal these guys up, you will need to turn off the power and use a voltage sniffer to ensure the power is off. Then remove the outlet cover and apply caulk or aerosol foam around the electrical box. Wait for the substance to dry and remove any excess. You should also add foam in the gap or area around the box.

Another way to insulate outlets is to get “socket sealers” or foam gaskets from your nearest home improvement store. Align the foam gasket with the back of the outlet cover and screw the cover back on.

3. Seal Ducts

Duct leaks can contribute to high energy losses as well. However, it isn’t a safe to DIY duct sealing—it is best to get an HVAC technician to do the job.

Have more questions about air leaks in your home? Get in touch with the pros at Mattioni! Call us today at 610-400-8510 or schedule a service online!