Caulking And Weatherstripping Your Home Secures Savings
Caulking and weatherstripping your home are easy, inexpensive ways to reduce energy use and lower your utility bills.Money is lost as conditioned air leaks around windows and doors, wasting energy and increasing utility costs. By caulking and weatherstripping those areas, conditioned air remains in your house where it belongs, and cost and energy use is reduced.If you plan to seal your house with caulking and weatherstripping, first access your home's ventilation needs. Some homes have poor indoor air quality, such as mold, dust or other contaminants. These pollutants can become locked in the house if it’s sealed without proper ventilation. A heating and air conditioning professional can assess the ventilation needs of your home, if you're unsure and would like professional advice.
Weatherstripping: Measure how much weatherstripping you’ll need before cutting by measuring the perimeter of areas to be weatherstripped, and then add five to ten percent. Make sure the area is clean and dry prior to applying. Install around the frame of doors. Under the door apply either reinforced foam weatherstripping, or a door sweep or threshold. For windows, apply along the top and bottom of sash. The weatherstripping should be snug and the window or door should compress when closed.
Caulking: Caulking is a versatile compound for sealing a variety of air leaks. It also prevents water damage when applied around water pipes, bathtubs, sinks, faucets and more.
Before you begin caulking, make sure the surface is clean and dry and you’ve removed old caulking and paint.Use caulking to seal around windows and doors, baseboards and quarter round moldings. Find areas of air leakage and seal as needed, for instance: around phone or TV wires or cables where air enters the house, entrances for electricity and gas, electrical outlets and switches, are just a few.Money is wasted if your house leaks air, but caulking and weatherstripping provide a simple, money- saving technique to make your house more efficient and reduce costs.For more expert advice about caulking and weatherstripping, and other issues related to home comfort, please feel free to contact Air Assurance. We’ve been proudly serving the Broken Arrow/Tulsa area since 1985.Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Image courtesy of Shutterstock