Energy Star Home Air Sealing Guide

Home air sealing guide now available for free download: Building America Best Practices Series, Vol. 10 – Retrofit Techniques and Technology Air Sealing Guide

Imagine opening a window in your house and leaving it that way 24 hours a day, all year long. On balmy spring days, the breeze wouldn’t be so bad. But, in the freezing cold of winter and the sticky heat of summer, with the furnace or air conditioner on, smart homeowners would recognize they might as well be throwing buckets of quarters out the window to pay for the escaping heated or cooled air.

DOE Air Sealing Guide Free Download

Air leaks in most existing homes add up to an open window in your home. Air sealing is one of the least expensive and most cost-effective measures you can take to improve your home’s comfort and energy efficiency. By sealing uncontrolled air leaks, you can expect to see savings of 10% to 20% on your heating and cooling bills, and even more if you have an older or especially leaky house.

This guide will help homeowners identify ways to make their homes more comfortable, more energy efficient, and healthier to live in. It also identifies the steps to take, with the help of a qualified AlabamaWISE home performance contractor, to seal unwanted air leaks while ensuring healthy levels of ventilation and avoiding sources of indoor air pollution. AlabamaWISE offers this guide to explain the value of these air sealing measures to Alabama households.

Studies show that the measures described in this guide can typically achieve whole-house energy savings of 10% to 20% over pre-improvement energy usage. In older homes or homes with greater levels of air leaks, savings may be much higher.

These practices are based on the results of research and demonstration projects conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America and Home Performance with ENERGY STAR sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and DOE. Home Performance with ENERGY STAR offers a comprehensive, whole-house approach to improving the energy efficiency and comfort of existing homes and requires a test-in/ test-out to test combustion products (www.energystar.gov/ homeperformance). DOE’s Building America has worked with some of the nation’s leading building scientists and more than 300 production builders on over 41,000 new homes. Building America’s research applies building science to the goal of achieving efficient, comfortable, healthy, and durable homes. The references in this document provide further explanation of air sealing techniques and technologies.

Topics covered in this guide:

• Contractor Qualifications
• Test-in/Test out
• Diagnostic Tools
• Safety and health Issues
• Ventilation
• New Home Code
• Air Sealing Checklist