Is Your Home Air-Tight This Winter?

January 7, 2020

If you’ve ever read any tips on how to prepare your house for winter, you’ve probably seen the tip over and over again that you should “seal air leaks and cracks around your home.”

That sounds great in theory, but what most of these blogs never get around to answering is, how do you find these leaks? You can’t seal what you can’t see!

This critical step is something that a lot of people don’t know how to do, so today, we’re not just going to give you that tip and leave it there…We’re going to teach you to become an expert hunter for cracks around your home, so that you can ACTUALLY be prepared for winter!

The best way to detect air leaks is to hire a professional to conduct an energy audit, because they can do what’s called a “blower door” test. They blow a fan in your home that depressurizes the air, and can detect how much air is leaking, before and after the professional seals your home. Quite frankly, that’s kind of an expensive option.

Here are some tips for inexpensively detecting air leaks yourself:

• Check areas where one building material meets another building material. For example, if you have vinyl siding, check where it meets your brick chimney.

• Next, check areas inside your home. From dryer vents going through the walls, to your attic hatch, to door frames, it can be easy to find places that need to be sealed when you’re looking around inside, not just outside.

• Also, there’s a neat trick that you can do with doors and windows: shut the door or window on top of a dollar bill. It should be difficult to pull the bill out, and if it comes right out, chances are you need to do some weatherstripping. Try not to rip the bill in the process…If you do, we take no responsibility!

• Last but not least, be sure to check these most common places for air leaks:
  • Attic walls
  • The shaft for pipes or ductwork
  • Exterior staircases
  • Chimney shaft
  • Fireplace wall
  • Garage walls
  • Foundation and rim joists
  • Windows and doors

So, like many around-the-home DIY tasks, it may seem intimidating at first but it actually isn’t so hard! Soon your home will truly be air-tight, and not only will you save money but you’ll be prepared for winter, too!

If you want to learn more about whether your home is properly prepared for winter, we’re here to answer your questions.