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An important part of reducing energy costs in the home is sealing air leaks. When heated or cooled air escapes from your home it has to be replaced by air from the outside. Unconditioned air from the outside has to be conditioned for your home to remain comfortable. If you can keep the conditioned air inside the home longer it will save energy dollars by not having to condition new air. It would be very difficult to stop all the air leakage in your home nor would your want to. For maintaining air quality it is recommended that natural air changes per hour not be less than .35, In other words a little over one-third of the entire volume of air should be replaced with fresh air every hour.

Example of Attic Air Sealing

When air sealing you should begin with the largest leaks first. Begin by sealing air leakage into the attic, Attic Hatch or accesses need to be weather stripped and insulated. Most times tradesmen cut or drill holes in framing and do not seal around the object,any plumbing and wiring  penetrations should be sealed.Caulking or expanding foam can be enough to seal most of these areas, backer rod can be used to fill larger cracks before caulking. Another problem area in attic are kitchen and bathroom soffits; this is an area where the soffit is framed, then sheetrock is installed around the soffit instead of to the ceiling joists leaving the soffit and often the wall open to the attic. These can be sealed by covering the opening with a fire rated foam board, plywood or sheetrock, then caulking or foaming the edges. Look for dirty spots in the insulation they often indicate holes where air is leaking from inside the house. If you have an attic or whole house fan sealing the shutters will make a big difference. Recessed light fixtures can be another air leakage area,be careful with these, some are not rated to be covered with insulation or sealed. You can use a high temperature silicone sealant where the housing of the light meets the ceiling, then you can build a drywall air seal or box around it leaving clearance around the fixture for ventilation. If you are using  Cfls ( Compact Fluorescent Lamps ). in these fixtures heat won’t be as much of an issue.

Weatherization is merely the process of optimizing the energy use in your home. This usually begins with a complete energy audit. This should be done by a professional, someone with the training and equipment to conduct a though audit.

Energy Audits are conducted with emphasis placed on health and safety. All combustion appliances such as water heaters, furnaces, space heaters, and ovens are tested for production of carbon monoxide, combustion efficiency and proper draft. It is extremely important that combustion appliances work at optimum efficiency and produce a minimal amount of CO (carbon monoxide). CO is colorless, tasteless, odorless gas produced by the incomplete burning of fuel. In high concentrations it can kill in minutes. I recommend that all homes with combustion appliances install a good co detector

After the safety of equipment is determined a thorough inspection of the house is conducted, including floor plan elevations, orientation, number and size of windows and doors, insulation levels etc.. This information is then entered into a computer program that does calculations and recommends the most cost effective measures that can be done to the home.

The cost of an energy audit is subsidized many times by local utilities or electric co-ops. In any case if you live in an older home an energy audit can be very beneficial.

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