Archive of posts tagged air seal
Air Sealing For Better Health And Comfort
Air Sealing is often talked about in the energy circle. But for most people air sealing is still an unfamiliar term. I remember once at a community green event a gentleman was proudly said that he just had his attic insulated. I told him that was great and asked him if he also air sealed […]
On-going Saga of Air Sealing
This 100+ years old house in Bridgton, Maine was leaking like a lobster trap, so much so that we were unable to take blower door measurements. After doing much work in sealing the basement and attic we were finally ready to run a blower door test. We knew that the work is far from finished […]
Sealing The Basement
Sealing a crawl space prevents moisture getting into the house from the ground. It is also a very effective way to reduce air infiltration, particularly around the rim joists and seams of the stem walls. Tom’s crew has laid polyurethane liners down on the basement ground and up the stem walls. While 6-mil to 10-mil […]
Leaky Like A Lobster Trap
We were hoping to demonstrate how leaky the house is by showing some blower door test results. The specific measurements turns out to be harder to get than we thought. We are also changing some of our initial thinking after examining the house in greater detail. Here are some excerpts from Tom’s report on where […]
Energy Improvement Opportunities
This is a 100+ year old house. Obviously there are many energy efficiency shortcomings (hence many improvement opportunities). The house has been vacant for over 2 years so we don’t have the latest operational information. Exterior Walls. Before taking the walls apart, we already expect little to no insulations for houses of this age. The […]
Want A Warm Floor?
A friend of mine recently had some renovation done for her one-story house, including replacing the flooring. The energy-conscious contractor sealed the perimeter of the concrete slab to cut off any air from infiltrating. Next he placed a layer of water barrier over the concrete to stop moisture from rising. He then placed a layer […]
Lighting
Incandescent light bulbs, which have been standard for over a century, will be phased out of manufacturing in a couple of years in the US to give way to more energy efficiency products. Compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs consume only about a quarter of the energy of incandescent bulbs producing comparable amounts of light. They also […]
The Terry Project: Sustainability Measures
The final step in air sealing the house was to take care of the old flooring in the kitchen area. It turns out that there are gaps between the old floorboard slats. These gaps will be completely taped up to prevent air or moisture moving from the crawlspace into the living space. A new floor […]