Your House Blows.

Remember last winter when you were complaining about those pesky drafts in your house. You said once the weather was more appropriate for working on the house you’d do something about them. Then it warmed up and you stopped thinking about the drafts. Well guess what, summer is now coming screeching to a halt and the cold weather is just around the corner. I wonder of those drafts have magically sealed themselves?

We are now at the perfect “house sealing’ time on the calendar: cool enough that we can find the drafts but not so cold we’d be crazy to get on a ladder and fix them. Now is also a terrific time to let my love of fancy equipment make the house-sealing process easier and better. Here’s how:

I have several pieces of equipment that can find leaks in houses faster than my wife can find lint on a black suit. One of those tools is called a blower door. It is essentially a big fabric door frame with a big ol’ fan and a computer. The computer measures the air pressure inside and outside the home simultaneously while the fan manipulates the interior air pressure. By pumping air out of the home (via that big fan) we are able to lower the air pressure in the house slightly, relative to the exterior air pressure – the same situation we get when it is windy outside.

Once we achieve that pressure difference, outside air will start sneaking in through it’s regular paths. If there is a temperature difference between inside and out, I can then use an infrared imager (yep, another fancy piece of gear) the actually see where the air is coming in.

Once we have identified the points of air leakage, there are a number of paths we can take – I can recommend a course of action for you to address the leaks, you can do the work yourself; you can hire someone to do the work; or you can contract my company to address the leaks. Each route has it’s own distinct benefits, the benefit of having my company address the issues is that after the work is done, we can fire up the equipment again and be sure it was actually done correctly and completely.

Have questions? Feel free to fire off an email to brad (at) manorhome.ca or call my office at 519.916.5298.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!!!

-Brad – your Windsor Ontario home inspector and air sealing guy!

ps – here’s is a picture showing air getting in at a lightswitch: