Does Your Home's Foundation Affect Its Insulation?

The foundation isn't one of the considerations that come to most homeowners' minds when thinking of the steps to take to insulate their houses against outside cold temperatures. But did you know that your home's foundation plays a significant role in the maintenance of ideal indoor temperatures? Here's a look at how a damaged foundation can affect HVAC efficiency and your ability to keep your house comfortably warm.

Improper Air Sealing

Does your foundation have many cracks that are bigger than a quarter-inch wide? Such cracks can create air leaks and temperature changes. As a result, your home may feel less comfortable. Your heating bills will also increase gradually.

Sloping Floors

A cracking or crumbling foundation can result in sloping floors. A sloping floor allows gaps to form between the floor and door jambs. This allows heated air from your home to seep through. It will also let in cold outdoor air.

Over time, sloping floors can also result in cracks around doors and windows, allowing more indoor air to escape. Your heating system won't perform optimally. Severe foundation damage can even cause separation of ducts, which throws your HVAC system completely off balance.

If you notice symptoms of foundation problems, such as sloping floors and cracks in your walls, coupled with steadily rising utility bills, you'll want to have your foundation professionally inspected.

Lack of Foundation Insulation

An uninsulated foundation allows for rapid heat loss, which reduces HVAC efficiency. Your home will retain much more heat if the foundation walls, as well as the foundation itself, are insulated.

Modern homes usually have their foundations insulated with materials such as concrete blocks and forms. Older houses often have damaged or no insulation. To fix your heating system's performance issues, you can have your older home retrofitted through the addition of insulation to the interior or exterior basement walls, crawl space, and around the foundation's perimeter underground.

Your home's foundation can cause poor HVAC efficiency, so inspect it to ensure it's in healthy condition. For more ways to improve your home's energy efficiency and comfort, contact Air Assurance. We help homeowners in the Broken Arrow area save energy by providing effective solutions such as duct sealing, air-infiltration sealing, the addition of insulation, and planned maintenance services.

Keep Your Basement from Flooding with These Tips

Cleaning up a flooded basement after rain seeps through your foundation walls can be your worst nightmare. It involves great work and can cost a significant amount of money to fix the damages and replace the items lost. Save yourself from this mess by taking these steps to prevent basement flooding.

• Clean your roof's gutters. Ensure your gutters are free of leaves and debris. When they get blocked, they'll dump rain water against your foundation and increase the probability of your basement flooding.

• Extend your downspouts. Protecting your basement from flooding entails making rain water drain as far away from your house as possible. One way of achieving this is by extending your downspouts at least 10 feet from your home. You can get plastic or metal downspout extensions at home improvement stores.

• Re-grade around your house. Make sure the grade around your home slopes away from your house at a rate of at least one inch per foot. This will help drain water away from your house and prevent it from flowing back into your foundation and basement.

• Check exterior foundation and basement for cracks. Fill all cracks in your foundation with epoxy. Apply masonry sealer to indoor cracks. If you come across serious damages, let a professional take care of them.

• Ensure your sump pump is working. It's important to include a sump pump in your arsenal of flooding protection tools. Open its cover and pull up on the float to ensure it's in good working condition. You should hear the pump motor running. It's a good idea to have a backup power source for your sump pump.

• Install window well covers. If your basement windows are at or below grade, you should install window well covers. They'll help in diverting water away from the framing and windows.

You can give yourself a greater peace of mind by purchasing flood insurance for your property. For more useful tips on preventing basement flooding, please contact us at Air Assurance. We've proudly served the Broken Arrow 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). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Jana Guothova/Shutterstock”