Air enters and leaves your house constantly.  While some of this movement is necessary for ventilation, most homes have entirely too much air exchange.  reducing air infiltration can be easily and economically accomplished by providing seals where air enters and exits.

Use his audit to evaluate your home.  After you have completed it, take it to the hardware store or home center for the tools, materials, and advice on how to plug the leaks that are costing you money in higher heating and cooling bills.

Begin by checking the exterior doors for these possible leaks:

  • Cracks where the door meets the frame.
  • The joint between the frame and the exterior and interior walls of the house
  • The bottom of the door at the threshold.
  • Between the base of the threshold and the floor underneath.
  • If your door has windows, are they properly glazed or is the glazing old and cracked or missing entirely.
  • Are any of the panes cracked or broken.
  • If the doors have existing weatherstripping, is it still in good shape or does it need replacement.
  • Does you home have adequate storm doors and are they properly hung and caulked.
Taking the same approach to interior doors can't hurt either.  Keeping them properly sealed helps reduce room-to-room infiltration and makes it possible to control more precisely the heating and cooling of individual rooms.

Look at your windows next:

  • How many windows have moving parts that allow leaks.
  • Are there any gaps or flaws in construction around the frame.
  • What is the condition of glazing compound around the glass.  It may be old and cracked.
  • Are seams around the window trim caulked.
  • If weatherstripping exists, is it adequate or in need of replacement.
  • Are any window panes cracked or broken, and need to be replaced.
  • Are the windows covered with drapes, shades, or blinds.
  • Are storm windows installed and properly fitted and caulked to eliminate gaps where the window meets the framing
Once you have covered all the conventional openings, look for the not-so-obvious ones.

  • Foundation cracks or crack in basement walls
  • Separation between any two materials of the house construction like an exterior chimney and the house
  • Utility pipes
  • OPhone, electrical, or cable lines
  • Mail slot
  • Clothes dryer vent
  • Outside light connections
  • TV Antenna entry
  • Electrical outlets
  • Cracks or splits in the siding
  • Gaps or loose mortar between blocks, bricks, or stone facing
  • Air ducts for heating and cooling system
  • Improper insulation around window air conditioning units
  • Leaky basement windows
  • Exposed roofing nails
  • Gaps around roof flashing
  • Split or loose shingles
  • Poor drainage around house
  • Damaged, blocked, or poorly connected downspouts
  • Gaps around garage door
Energy also leaks from you home by other openings

  • Is your furnace properly cleaned and tuned for maximum efficiency?
  • Is the air filter clean?
  • Check the air conditioning filter
  • Check the range filter
  • Check for dirty or blocked heating/cooling registers
  • Do you set your thermostat too high in winter and too low in summer?
  • Do you turn your thermostat down when you are out the the house for several hours?
  • Is the thermostat broken, worn, or dirty?  Have you considered a programmable thermostat?
  • An improperly located thermostat (too near to a heat or cool source or an outside wall) can waste energy
  • Check for leaks in heating and cooling ducts and joints
  • Is your hot water heater set at an efficient temperature?
  • Is the hot water heater malfunctioning in any way?
  • Are you lighting and heating or cooling unused or seldom used rooms.
  • Have you insulated your hot and cold water pipes and heating and air conditioning ducts.