Air Sealing

Air sealing is sealing up leaks that are sources of energy loss. Uncontrolled air leakage allows conditioned air that you’re paying to heat and cool to escape and be replaced by unconditioned outside air resulting in high energy costs and indoor air quality and comfort issues. Drafty, cold or hot rooms, heating and cooling equipment that seem to run constantly, high electric, gas, and heating oil bills are signs of uncontrolled air leakage. Heating & cooling your home typically accounts for the largest costs of annual utility bills. Keeping conditioned air inside and cold & dry, or hot & humid air outside will save energy, reduce costs, and improve your comfort.

During the cold months heated air in your home rises and will escape through bypasses between conditioned space and your attic, and ultimately outside. At the same time cold, dry, unconditioned air is drawn in lower in your home, such as between your floor and the top of foundation walls, crawl space, and basement doors & windows. The reverse happens in the summer (as heat chases cold) when hot, humid, outside air from your attic is drawn into the space your trying to cool. Reducing excess air leakage saves money and improves comfort in your home year round, and is one of the most cost effective improvements you can make.

Can a home be too tight? How much air leakage is too much? And how do you know what it should be? How do you know what to seal up? These are great questions. This is why a home energy assessment is so important. Yes a home can be too tight. The home energy audit performed by High Performance Home includes a blower door test to quantify how leaky, or tight your home currently is, and we calculate what it should be. We perform thermal imaging to pinpoint exactly where the leaks are so we know what to seal up. Plus, when we’re done air sealing another blower door test is performed to quantify the improvement and verify we hit the targeted air leakage rate to maximize efficiency, comfort, and ensure healthy indoor air quality for you and your family.

High Performance Home specializes in finding and fixing these issues. We specially trained and certified and combine the latest in building science knowledge and equipment along with many years of experience making homes in Frederick, Columbia, Ellicott City, Westminster, Mount Airy, Eldersburg, Towson Maryland more energy efficient, comfortable, and healthy.