The cold, cold winter is finally giving way to spring! But, now is actually the best time to ensure your home isn’t leaking air. Why?
Well, mostly because, when it’s not already freezing cold, it’s way less of a hassle to weatherize your home. It becomes more of a preventative measure, and less of an emergency!
Since an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, spring is the best time to check for air leaks and weatherize your home. But, how do you do that, you may be wondering? After all, you’ve probably heard the tip to “weatherize your home” many times, but without step-by-step instructions on where to start, or how to detect air leaks, just saying “weatherize your home” doesn’t do much good.
How do you detect air leaks?
Don’t know where to start looking for potential air leak spots? The basic rule of thumb is, wherever two different building materials touch/meet, that’s where there’s likely to be gaps. Whether that’s where your siding meets your brick, or where your faucet meets your siding, or where your foundation ends, or anywhere that’s a corner. If it’s two different materials meeting, there are probably gaps and cracks.
While the examples we just gave are on the outside of your home, the same thing is true inside your home. Where your door frame or your window frame meet the wall, where your dryer vent meets the wall, where your baseboards meet the wall and floor, and, again, corners — these are all places where gaps and cracks are common.
Now what?
Now that you’ve gone one step further in your spring cleaning, and detected all the air leaks around your home, how do you seal them? Well, as you may already know, you need caulk and a caulking gun. We recommend using a clear sealant, so you can paint it any color you like, and if you make a little mistake, it’s easier to fix without being noticeable!
Next, while there should be instructions on your bottle, it may be a little confusing to figure out how to connect the tube and the gun. What you do is cut off the tip of the tube, and insert it into the metal rod of the gun. Now, pulling the trigger of the gun, and very carefully running the tip of the tube along a gap or crack you’ve identified, apply a line of the sealant as carefully as possible. But, if the job isn’t completely perfect, don’t worry too much! You can use your finger to wipe down and smooth out the application!
So, we’ve made you an expert of sealing air leaks — and you’re one of the first people to do it before summer or winter hits — and your home is an airtight fortress. Plus, your HVAC system won’t have to work so hard. We’re proud of you! But we also understand that, as handy as you are around your home, you may not be able to do everything. That’s where H.A. Sun comes in. We want to help you stay comfortable in your Bloomfield Hills area home, by offering great HVAC deals and even better service. Contact us online or give us a call at (248) 986-1506!
