Green Home How Tos: Detecting and Sealing Air Leaks

Reducing the amount of air that leaks in and out of your home is a cost-effective way to cut your heating and cooling costs, increase comfort, and create a healthier indoor environment. Caulking and weatherstripping are two simple and effective air-sealing techniques that are easy to do and offer quick returns on investment. We've already covered weatherstripping in a previous post.

Today we'll talk more generally about how to find the source of air leaks in your home. Areas that leak air into and out of your home cost you a lot of money. The areas listed in the illustration are the most common sources of air leaks.

TIPS FOR SEALING AIR LEAKS

• Test your home for air tightness. On a windy day, carefully hold a lit incense stick or a smoke pen next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and other places where air may leak. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weatherstripping.

• Install foam gaskets behind outlet and switch plates on walls.

• Look for dirty spots on your ceiling paint and carpet, which may indicate air leaks at interior wall/ceiling joints and wall/floor joists, and caulk them.

• Cover single-pane windows with storm windows or replace them with more efficient double-pane low- emissivity windows. 

• Use foam sealant on larger gaps around windows, baseboards, and other places where air may leak out.

• Cover your kitchen exhaust fan to stop air leaks when not in use.

• Keep the fireplace flue damper tightly closed when not in use.

• Seal air leaks around fireplace chimneys, furnaces, and gas-fired water heater vents with fire-resistant materials such as sheet metal or sheetrock and furnace cement caulk.

Hope these tips will help you keep your home clean, green and energy efficient!