Air leakage in a house is a major issue for homeowners. It is one of the main reasons heating and cooling systems don’t work properly or provide insufficient air temperature maintenance in houses. Your heating and/or cooling system has to spend more energy in order to maintain a comfortable air temperature for you and your family.
Let’s explore some quick ways of ensuring and maintaining insulation in your house. Read on to know how you can save time and money and do your own insulation in your house.
Finding Air Gaps
Many times, gaps develop inside houses which allow controlled air to escape and make air conditioning systems inefficient. The first thing you need to do in this scenario is to locate places where the air is escaping from or flowing in. Common places where air leaks occur are behind knee walls, attic hatches, wiring holes, plumbing vents, open soffits, recessed light sockets, furnace flue, etc. You need to identify the air containment in these places to know where your leak is originating from.
For this, it is best to have a sketch of your house and pinpoint the areas where the leaks are occurring. Dirty insulation is another way of identifying air leaks. Attics, vents and basements are the major areas where leaks occur as they are built differently from the main body of the house. Focus your search on these areas. You will most likely find the leaks in these areas itself.
Fixing Gaps
Once you have found the draft areas, plug the larger holes first. Do not worry about the small holes too much as they don’t pose any important problem for you at the moment.
For attics, a good way of adding insulation is to measure the insulation in comparison to the floor joists in your attic. If they are above the level of your floor joists, then you are good to go. But if the insulation is just level or even below the floor joists, then you would have to add more insulation.
For DIY insulations, fiberglass works the best. But check the R-value of your insulation. It should ideally be R-38. Also, you will have to make sure that the fiberglass batt has no paper or foil backing it. Alternatively, you can also use blankets for the same purpose.
Loose fill is another great option and very useful in covering all the holes in your attic and basement area. But it requires a blowing machine to work properly. You can hire a professional to do this task perfectly for you.
Seek Professional Help
Do you need to add an air conditioning or heating system to your house? Mid-Atlantic Heating and Cooling has the perfect solution for all your temperature control needs. We offer our services in the whole Northern Virginia area so if you find yourself losing precious money over leaky insulation or faulty air temperature control equipment, then do give us a call and we will have your problems taken care of.
