5 Common Places for Air Leaks in Your Home

Openings in your house can cause problems with the climate and conditioning if you don’t seal them properly. Once you identify and maintain these places, you should be able to keep them from reoccurring. Here are five common places for air leaks in your home so you can catch them early and fix them before they worsen.

Side Walls That Hold the Attic Rafters

Make it a habit to check on your attic if you haven’t been up there in a while. You never know what could happen in your attic—if it’s slowly decomposing, you’ll want to be aware of it. Once you’ve found the air leak, it’s no problem to fix. The siding that covers the rafters may need repairing, so you’ll need to inspect it thoroughly.

Plumbing Vents and Air Ducts

Plumbing and air ducts are huge areas that cover a lot of ground inside your home. You’ll need to become familiar with these places, especially if you have yet to locate them. These areas see more use than others throughout the home, meaning they have the highest likelihood of developing issues. For these reasons, you can do air leakage tests throughout your home to prevent any serious problems from emerging.

Open Spaces Near Cable Wiring Holes

Wherever you live, you’ll want to establish all amenities, such as electrical wiring and Ethernet connections. These wires are typically installed from the outside, so pilot holes are drilled throughout your house. Make sure you’re checking your home at least once annually for air leaks near these holes; you may need to plug them.

Furnace Flues

If you have a chimney, you should do your best to maintain it, regardless of its use. If you’re not using it, you should inspect it anyway to guarantee there aren’t any openings where there shouldn’t be in the flues. There could also be holes in the chimney itself that need repair, so you’ll need to investigate thoroughly to ensure everything is walled off as best as possible.

Hatches to Crawl Spaces

Most homes have crawl spaces underneath. They are potential areas that need to be sealed off. All kinds of issues could occur without the appropriate sealing. Because cold air sinks, you could be losing the conditioned air that’s being pumped into your home through the ducts out of your crawl space. This is especially true if there are open areas leading to it.

Now you know five places to look for air leaks in your home. It’s good to be prepared, and you can easily fix air leaks yourself.