Attic-Sealing Strategies GIve A Solid Plan For Efficiency And Comfort

Sealing a ceiling might sound like a spelling exercise, but it’s also an important thing to do in any attic that might have air or water leakage issues. Keeping your attic dry and ventilated keeps your house more comfortable, maintains its value, and helps to reduce your heating and air conditioning bills. A moisture problem can often be linked to a ventilation problem, and attic sealing can help to control both issues with one corrective measure.

Use the following checklist to go looking for any potential problems in your attic:

• Warped or rotted wood overhead, in the walls and in the flooring
• Bubbled paint
• Worn or warped roof shingles
• Wet insulation
• Mold growth or mildew

Any of these warning signs could readily lead you to the source of the problem: typically, leaks or gaps around ductwork, wires, plumbing, light fixtures and entryways.

Proper attic sealing prevents outside elements from getting in, but it won’t help you if you have an older home with problems that originate from within. Kitchen ranges, exhaust fans and dryers might be vented to the attic, and clearly need to be rerouted to avoid future problems or contain issues you might already have.

Also, attic-sealing measures won’t help you if what you need is additional insulation to contain cool or warm air seepage, or an attic fan that will improve the air throughout the house. And you definitely don’t want to replace wood components or shingles without first correcting the situation that damaged them initially.

Sobieski serves Wilmington, Delaware and the surrounding areas. Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC & plumbing systems). For more information about ventilation, attic fans and other HVAC topics, visit our website today.

Image Credit: Craft*ology