The experienced Air-sealing contractors in Missoula, Montana.
Air leaks in the building envelope can be a huge source of wasted energy. We can find them and (most of the time) we can fix them (although sometimes they are in completely inaccessible places). In both new construction and existing buildings our Air-sealing Services ensure the best possible air-tightness and energy savings.
Thermal Image showing dark patches of air-leakage around a door.
Why is air-sealing important for energy efficiency?
For every cubic foot of warm air that leaks out of a home in a Montana winter, a cubic foot of freezing cold air enters through small gaps and holes in the shell of the building and has to be heated. This wastes a lot of energy, so sealing as many of these holes as possible is vital for energy efficiency.
Without good air-sealing of all the gaps and cracks in your homes exterior shell (or envelope), even the best insulation won’t be effective at keeping your home comfortable and your utility bills down. Insulation without air sealing is like being out in a blizzard wrapped in a big, thick blanket that has a bunch of holes in it. It won’t keep you warm because cold air can blow right through it. Similarly, air-tightness without good insulation is like being out in the same blizzard wrapped only in a garbage bag. It might keep the wind out but it also won’t keep you warm. Your home needs to have both good insulation AND good air-tightness to be energy efficient. In fact, as much as 50% of the heat in a home can escape through a multitude of little holes and cracks in the envelope unless these are carefully sealed.
How do we make a new home air-tight?
Air-sealing details including building gaskets and foam sealing around a window and an air-tight electrical box with gasket.,
The best way to make a new home really air-tight is to start from the very beginning of construction and to glue, caulk, gasket, and foam-seal every possible gap or crack as the building goes up. In many cases neoprene gaskets are the most effective method of air-sealing for the long run. Caulks, glues, and foams all become brittle and inflexible over time so that, when things move (such as wood shrinking or metal expanding and contracting, they can lose their air-sealing qualities. So we strongly encourage builders of new homes to use gaskets at top and bottom plates, behind drywall, around windows, and around penetrations. We can help with installation of drywall gaskets and our sister company Energetechs sells a variety of gaskets for different applications. Please click on the Energetechs link to find more information about building gaskets.
Energetechs also sells specialty Air-tight Electrical Boxes. Outlets, switches, and light fixtures are often major sources of air-leakage in buildings. These specially-designed rough-in boxes make it easy to create a very good air seal around all of your electrical locations. Please click on the link above to read more about them.
What if I’m remodeling an existing home?
Montana Energy Services offers a variety of services to help you with air-sealing your existing home. Usually, the best place to start is to perform a Blower Door Test on the home to find out where the air leaks are. Energetechs has Montana’s most experienced Energy Auditors who can perform a thorough Blower Door and Infrared Camera test to pin-point exactly where the air leaks are and recommend the best strategies for sealing them. Please click on these links to read more about Energetech’s Blower Door and Infrared Camera Testing.
Severe attic air leaks (at left) get sealed (at right) before the attic is re-insulated
Once we know exactly where the air leaks are we can come up with the best strategy for sealing them. Common places that we find serious air-leaks are in attics and crawl spaces. Please click on the links to read more about our attic and crawl space upgrades. Typically in remodel situations it is impossible to insert building gaskets into the existing structure so we usually have to use caulks and spray foams in these cases. And, done correctly, these can be extremely effective at reducing air-leakage and making your home more air-tight. This, in turn, helps to make it more comfortable and energy efficient and reduces your utility bills.
Where do older homes typically leak the most air?
Thermal images of some typical air leaks - recessed lights, attic access, roof-to-wall connections, outlets and switches - the blue areas show air leaks which are wasting heat and money.
Recessed light fixtures are one of the worst culprits for air-leakage but they’re certainly not the only ones. Often we find that every light fixture in the ceiling as well as every outlet in the walls of a home are leaking significant amounts of air. Also the places where walls meet roofs and floors are often places with bad air leakage. Rim joists (the wood element that goes around the exterior edge of the floor structures fo homes) are also common air-leakers along with attic access hatches, around windows and doors, and any penetrations through the structure of the building such as electrical wires, plumbing pipes, and vents.
Some of these areas in existing homes can be almost impossible to get to but our experienced team will do the best possible job of sealing the air-leaks in your existing home.
What sets us apart?
We have the most experienced air-sealing team AND (in most cases) we verify our work with BEFORE-AND-AFTER BLOWER DOOR TESTS. So we can tell you exactly how much we have improved the air-tightness of your home when we are finished our air-sealing installation.