Summertime in the Wichita Falls area often brings with it some shockingly high energy bills. Hidden air leaks are a big part of the reason for the high bills. Before the heat really sets in, take some time to seal and insulate the home envelope. The envelope is the outer-most shell of your house – walls, ceiling, windows, doors and floor. If you ignore hidden leaks and cracks in the envelope, keeping your home and family comfortable as the temperature soars can really cost you. Once you properly seal and insulate your home envelope, you’ll start saving energy and money, while making your home environment more comfortable,
Start by Locating Air Leaks in the Most Likely Spots
Finding air leaks can be a real challenge if your home is on the older side, but you can get cost-effective assistance with a professional energy audit. Your HVAC contractor has special equipment to locate leaks you may have never discovered on your own, such as in your home’s crawlspaces. The first places you should look for air leaks include:
- Access points where plumbing pipes or wiring enters your home through openings in the floors, ceilings and walls
- Electric outlets and on-off switches on exterior walls
- The area where your fireplace’s chimney penetrates the wall and ceiling
- Fireplace dampers
- Attic entrances
- Dropped ceilings
- Recessed lighting
- Missing plaster
- Framing around windows, doors and baseboards
- Your duct system can be the biggest energy waster in your home – but the hardest to seal on your own. You may have large leaks in these hard-to-reach areas. To save the most on your energy bills, have your ducts sealedby a professional.
Materials To Seal and Insulate the Home Envelope
- Seal small cracks with caulk if they are less than about ¼ inch wide.
- Use foam sealant that expands to fill bigger holes and cracks.
- Install weatherstripping around doors and window sashes.
- Flexible foam backer rod can serve as crack filler for the biggest, deepest cracks – caulk over it if necessary.
- To seal off large openings like the attic hatch, use rigid foam insulation. Fiberglass insulation allows air to flow through it, so if you use it, wrap with plastic sheeting or even plastic bags. Wear gloves and a dust mask when you work with fiberglass insulating materials.
- For high heat areas like the flue and chimney, purchase metal flashing or silicone sheeting made to withstand heat.
Insulation
Insulation is next in your project to seal and insulate the home envelope. Do your air sealing first, so that air leaks won’t blow through and defeat your insulation. Insulating power is measured by R-value, which helps you to compare its resistance to heat flow. You’ll need different R-values for different parts of your house, and it also varies according to your region/climate. Here’s a handy R-value calculator from CertainTeed. Just enter Wichita County, Texas, in the drop-down menus.
Most Important Areas to Insulate
Attic: An unheated attic is probably the easiest and most effective place to add insulation as a do-it-yourself job. Use either loose fill or unfaced fiberglass batting. Follow manufacturer installation instructions carefully to get effective results.
Basement: Rigid foam works well if you install it against basement walls. Avoid fiberglass batting and cellulose, which are vulnerable to moisture. Interior vapor barriers also can cause problems by trapping moist air in your basement.
Important Home Safety Checks
Are you concerned that you might do “too good” of a job when you seal and insulate your home envelope? It’s virtually impossible to make older houses too airtight. Still, you need to make sure that you still have healthy indoor air quality after your home-sealing project. A certain amount of fresh air is important for home comfort and safety.
Call your local HVAC expert to evaluate your home’s airflow and indoor air quality. Your contractor can make/recommend adjustments or upgrades to your ventilation system to help correct any problems. Ask your technician to check your heating system and the venting of your combustion appliances (like your clothes dryer) to help protect you from gas leaks or carbon monoxide buildup in your home. Make sure you have properly installed and regularly tested smoke and CO detectors just outside the bedrooms of your house.
For more energy-efficiency tips and expert HVAC advice, browse our website anytime. At James Lane Air Conditioning & Plumbing Co., we’ve been serving the Wichita Falls area for nearly 60 years. When you need HVAC service – or have questions about how to seal and insulate the home envelope – please contact us!
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