If your home has mysterious drafts or cold spots, or just isn’t as comfortable or efficient as you would like, air leaks might be to blame. Air leaks occur when there is a small gap, crevasse, or crack between two environments. Leaky air ducts can result in thermal loss of the heated air from your furnace, while air leaks in the walls, foundation, or roof of your home can result in unwanted air exchange with the outdoors. Both types of leaks directly impact your comfort and your home’s energy efficiency. This guide to air sealing and duct sealing will help you improve the winter heating of your home.

About Air Sealing

Sealing air leaks is the process of plugging leaks between the interior and exterior of your home. This is a simple DIY project that you and a partner can undertake in a single weekend. To identify where air is leaking, you can:

  • Use a flashlight. One person shines the light around door and window frames, vent openings, and outlets inside the home. The other person stands outside and watches for light beams. If light is seen, there’s an air leak.
  • Holding a lit candle or burning incense around doors, windows, vents, and outlets. If the smoke blows in one direction, the area has an air leak.
  • Closing each door and window onto a sheet of paper. If you can slide out the sheet of paper without tearing it, that door or window is leaky.

Once you’ve found all the air leaks, it’s time to take action. You can seal air leaks by adding weatherstripping around doors and caulking around window frames, air vents, outlets, and foundation cracks. Be sure to select the right caulk for the surface and use proper caulking technique for an effective barrier against unwanted air exchange.

About Duct Sealing

Sealing air ducts is another way to improve your winter heating and energy efficiency. A gap between pieces of ductwork or a small puncture or crack in the ductwork can allow heated air to leak out of the ducts, resulting in thermal loss. Since less of the heated air reaches your home’s living spaces, your furnace has to work harder to heat your home. Professional ductwork sealing can be done from the interior of the ducts or the exterior of the ducts. You could see a significant reduction on your utility bills after the air ducts are sealed.

Eliminating air leaks boosts your home’s energy efficiency, saves you money, and increases your comfort. A well-sealed home is also a great selling point and could add value to your Asheville, NC property. For more information about improving your home’s winter heating or to schedule sealing of your home’s ductwork, call our heating and air conditioning service technicians at Gentry Heating Inc. any time.

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