Is Air Sealing Your Attic Worth It?
If you’re looking to upgrade your western Massachusetts home, air sealing should be at the top of your list. While there are many home improvement projects that you can do yourself, when it comes to air sealing your attic, you should leave this one to the professionals.
It’s great to do some minor air sealing around window panes or small cracks in your basement using tubes of caulk or cans of foam you can pick up from the local hardware store. If you want to make a lasting improvement to the efficiency and health of your home, however, call an air sealing expert to tackle your attic or to treat your basement in a more robust way.
What is Air Sealing?
Although you may think your home’s windows, walls and roof do an excellent job of keeping outdoor air from entering, that’s not the case. Air from the outside is constantly coming into your house via tiny gaps and cracks in the building structure. As this air moves through unsealed areas in the home envelope, it brings pollutants, heat and moisture along with it.
Appropriate air sealing and alignment of the the boundary between conditioned and unconditioned space (space you live in vs. uninhabited areas) where insulation is installed allows you to more easily regulate your home’s temperature, moisture levels and indoor air quality. This also gives you significant energy savings.
Why Does Your Attic Need Air Sealing?
Air sealing your attic is essential to an energy efficient home. The stack effect, also referred to as the “chimney effect,” is the culprit of energy loss via your attic. This is created by differences between the density of indoor and outdoor air.
During the summer, the stack effect causes cool, conditioned air to exfiltrate, or escape your home, through the basement. This then pulls an equal amount of hot, outdoor air in through your attic. In the winter, the opposite happens, with warm, heated air escaping through your attic only to be replaced by cold air coming in through your basement.
Air sealing your attic and having it appropriately insulated helps minimize the stack effect. This will make your home’s temperature more comfortable and easy to regulate, while protecting you against high energy costs year-round.
The Benefits of Air Sealing with Energía
After your home is air sealed by the experts at Energía, your home will be a more enjoyable, healthy and efficient living environment. Benefits of air sealing your home and ensuring proper insulation include:
Consistent temperatures throughout your home
Prevention of ice dams during the winter
Improved indoor air quality (IAQ)
An EPA estimated 18% heating and cooling cost reduction for your Massachusetts home
Contact us or call (413) 322-3111 today to learn more about professionally air sealing your attic and start seeing the benefits for your home!