Are Your Heating Dollars Literally Going Through The Roof?

Summer or winter the air moves through the walls, roof and cracks of your home. Either cool air-conditioned air is lost to the outside during the summer or cold winter air is finding its way into your home during the winter.

Where does your home lose its heat energy? Well you can generally categorize it into five areas:

1. Ceilings
2. Walls
3. Floors and Below Grade Space
4. Windows and Doors
5. Infiltration (air leakage)

Now these are not all the same in terms of their contribution to heat loss. Heat is lost to infiltration and air loss by over 3 times the amount it is lost due to ceilings. In terms of percentage of heat loss in a home:

1. Infiltration/Air Leakage: 35%
2. Windows and Doors: 18% to 20%
3. Floors and Below Grade Space: 15% to 18%
4. Walls: 12% to 14%
5. Ceilings: 10%

Reducing your air leaks is your best investment. Check around plumbing vents, wall electrical outlets and switches, recessed lights exposed to the attic, attic stairs, vertical plumbing stacks open in the basement and other culprits. Another source of air leakage could be found in your duct work. They all allow heated air to be drawn from your home and escape thru the roof or other openings.