The “Secret Solution” to fixing a cold, uncomfortable and drafty home may not be what you think. We meet many homeowners who have cold and drafty homes during the winter. Unfortunately, many people think the best solution starts with a new furnace, new windows or new doors. Only to find out later after the money is spent and the products are installed, their home is still cold. This is not at all surprising when looking at the advertising of new furnaces and replacement windows.
These industries tout the benefits of their products and while it’s true new windows and/or a new furnace helps, it does not mean your home will cease to be cold and drafty after installing them.
What most homeowners do not realize is that the single biggest contributor to the cold and draftiness of a home is not the windows. All the building performance experts agree, no longer does an old house, or a new house have to be cold, drafty and difficult to heat. The “Secret Solution” to lower heating bills and a more comfortable house is in the attic.
In order to better understand why all the leading experts agree the attic is the “secret solution” to eliminating a cold, uncomfortable and drafty house you must be aware of two basic concepts of building performance. The first concept to know about is the “Stack effect” or “Chimney Effect”, in which, the warmer air inside your home is forced to rise to the uppermost portions of your house.
Next, it’s important to understand the concept of a “building envelope” which is the physical separator between the interior and the exterior environments of any building. So, as the warm air in your home forcibly rises it will meet the upper envelope, or in this case, your upper ceilings. If this envelope, or ceiling, has been penetrated (can lights, bath fans, attic access panels are great examples of penetration) and left unsealed, the warm air will be forced to escape. This, in turn, produces a “giant vacuum effect” throughout your home which will forcibly suck the cold, outside air into your home through the weaker and more susceptible parts of your lower building envelope (like rim joists, doors and windows and anywhere else that is not properly sealed.) This “giant vacuum effect” sucking cold, outside air into the home is the cause of the drafts in your home and not your doors and windows or some other perceived phenomenon.
 
If you want to test this in your own home wait for the next cold day when there is not a breath of wind outside. Next, put your hand near your doors and windows. That frigid rush of air you feel will not be a breeze from any wind outside but the force of cold, exterior air being sucked into your house by the “giant vacuum effect”. The best way to eliminate this and stop the drafts is to seal the penetrations in the upper building envelope of your home which will prevent the warm air from forcibly escaping and causing the “giant vacuum effect” in the first place.
The “Secret Solution” to fixing a cold, uncomfortable and drafty home is to seal the unsealed penetrations in the upper building envelope. Unsealed penetrations that a homeowner can see in the upper ceiling are things like attic access panels or stairs, can lights, bathroom fans, electrical boxes, HVAC registers, and entertainment cables or equipment. In the unseen attic space, there may also be dryer vents, chimneys, soil stacks, kitchen vents and walls that also need to be sealed.
The US Department of Energy agrees that the most cost effective way to improve energy efficiency and comfort in a typical home is to first seal the penetrations and then make sure you have adequate and correctly applied insulation. Properly installed insulation in the Atlanta area has a thermal value R-60 or 22 inches. If it is not installed correctly, however it will significantly reduce its thermal value and effectiveness. The good news is that by doing these things it is estimated that you can save up to 30% on heating and cooling costs (or up to 30% on your total annual energy bill).
Now that you have the “Secret Solution” you can make better educated decisions regarding your home and better determine how to best spend your hard earned dollars. For further information regarding the additional things you can do to increase the comfort level of your home like sealing your rim joists, weatherstripping your doors and windows and sealing your ductwork go to www.energystar.gov or contact us at, aladdininsulation.com or 678-528-7115 and we will be happy to visit your home and provide a free inspection.