Weatherization

Warm air leaking into your home during the summer and out of your home during the winter can waste a lot of your energy dollars. One of the quickest dollar-saving tasks you can do is caulk, seal, and weatherstrip all seams, cracks, and openings to the outside. You can save as much as 10% on your heating and cooling bill by reducing the air leaks in your home.

Detecting Air Leaks

You may already know where some air leakage occurs in your home, such as an under-the-door draft,

but you'd be surprised where the less obvious gaps may be.

For a thorough and accurate measurement of air leakage in your home, you will need our qualified technicians to conduct an energy audit, particularly a Blower Door Test. A blower door test, which depressurizes a home, can reveal the location of many leaks. A complete energy audit will also help determine areas in your home that need more insulation, radiant barrier, or duct sealing.

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How They Work

A blower door is a powerful fan that mounts into the frame of an exterior door. The fan pulls air out of the house, lowering the air pressure inside. The higher outside air pressure then flows in through all unsealed cracks and openings. The auditors may use a smoke pencil to detect air leaks. These tests determine the air infiltration rate of a building.

Diagram of a blower door. The parts of the blower door are labeled as follows: exterior door frame (around the outside edge of the door), temporary covering (over the surface of the door), and adjustable frame (just inside the exterior door frame). An air pressure gauge, a small vertical rectangle with three round gauges inside, is alongside of the door. The top gauge is connected by a tube to the temporary covering, and the bottom two gauges are connected to a fan sitting at the bottom of the door. The caption reads: Diagnostic Tools. Testing the airtightness of a home using a special fan called a blower door can help to ensure that air sealing work is effective. Often, energy efficiency incentive programs, such as the DOE/EPA ENERGY STAR Program, require a blower door test (usually performed in less than an hour) to confirm the tightness of the house.

Blower doors consist of a frame and flexible panel that you can place in a doorway, a variable-speed fan, a pressure gauge to measure the pressure differences inside and outside the home, and an airflow manometer and hoses for measuring airflow.

Air infiltrates into and out of your home through every hole, nook, and cranny. About one-third of this air infiltrates through openings in your ceilings, walls, and floors.

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