Non-Energy Benefits of Sealing Home Air Leaks
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Having a professional seal your home's air leaks can make your home more comfortable, reduce the risk of moisture damage, improve indoor air quality and fire safety, and help to prevent frozen water pipes.
A properly -sealed and -ventilated home can:
- improve comfort. Leaky homes are uncomfortable, both in winter and summer.
- reduce drafts and moisture problems. Sealing leaks reduces infiltration into your home, which helps to reduce drafts and the frequently associated moisture problems.
- reduce annoying phenomena such as mysterious door slamming. Well-sealed homes also can avoid "pressure imbalances", which are created when more air is being exhausted than resupplied, or vice versa. These imbalances cause annoying phenomena such as mysterious door slamming.
- improve indoor air quality and fire safety. Pressure imbalances can lead to more serious situations in which furnace or combustion appliance exhausts are not removed fully from the home, or in which combustion flames are pulled down and out of their safe containment areas, potentially leading to house fires. Pressure imbalances can also increase the rate of radon entry into a home, particularly in basements.
- Keep your home comfortable and habitable longer during power outages. A well sealed home can remain comfortable and habitable longer than the ordinary home during power outages.
- Help prevent damages caused by frozen water pipes by reducing the infiltration of cold air into the house.
- Reduce your heating and/or cooling needs so that you may be able to get by with smaller, less expensive, heating or cooling equipment.
