December 10, 2014
NJ homeowners that place a strong focus on energy efficiency and home performance often find themselves hearing about air-sealing. Air-sealing is one of the best ways to increase a home’s energy efficiency, and to ignore its importance would be irresponsible. All this being said, many people wonder whether or not a home can actually be air-sealed too tightly, and it’s a good question to ask. Air flow can indeed play a major role in the health and safety of a home, as it helps to remove contaminants. However, it can also introduce low quality air into the home (through moldy crawl spaces, for example).
To put things simply, a leaky home does not mean improved health and safety due to increased air flow. Air flow is important, but so is air-sealing in this regard. So, what’s the solution?
Dealing with Air flow Issues
Sealing-up a home can never be overdone when it comes to energy improvements, yet maintaining good air flow is important for health and safety. Healthy and energy efficient air-sealing is the answer, and when paired with proper mechanical ventilation will ensure that air is moving in and out of the home in a proper cycle. When this occurs, “makeup air” comes from clean sources and can help to ensure that you and your family are breathing in air that won’t cause health problems such as asthma down the line.
The benefits of proper air-sealing are difficult to ignore and include the following:
- Improved Comfort Levels — Comfort can make all the difference in the world in terms of whether or not you actually enjoy spending time in your home. Proper air-sealing helps to keep cold drafts at bay during the winter while also keeping cool air inside a home during the warmer months of the year.
- Reduced Energy Costs — It should stand to reason that whenever you end up losing air from within your home, you’re also losing energy. Proper air-sealing can help to keep energy loss from occurring, which means you can expect to see reduced energy costs over the long and short term.
- Protection from Outside Contaminants — You might think that an increased amount of airflow between outside air and the interior of your home will help to promote good indoor air quality, but it can actually serve to bring in contaminants from the outside. When you take the time to air-seal your home, outside contaminants no longer serve as a threat to you and your family.
Discovering Issues Via a Home Energy Audit
In order to determine whether or not your home is currently lacking proper air-sealing, it’s essential to conduct a home energy audit. A HEA will help you to determine what, if any issues exist within your home, which allows you to devise a plan to remedy the problems and keep them from occurring in the future. With winter finally here, there’s no better time than now to get started.
Tom Rostron Company provides home energy audits to customers in Ocean County and Monmouth County, guiding homeowners through the process from beginning to end. Contact us today to learn more.
