How do you find the leaks?

There are three main pieces of equipment that are used in order to find air leaks:

• Thermal Imager
• Blower Door
• Smoke Pencil

A thermal imager is used to find out if there is insulation in the walls and where there may be deficiencies. It can also be used together with the blower door in order to find air leaks that cannot be detected by simply holding your hand near a suspected leak.  The imager shows the differences in the temperatures of surfaces, and can help you detect which surfaces may be more affected by the outside temperature than they should be.

The blower door is simply a fan that is placed within a frame that goes in the front door of a house. The fan is used to depressurize a house to a certain point. When the house is depressurized air tries to enter the house from anywhere that it can. The blower door is able to measure the amount of air that is leaking into the house and that number can be translated into square footage of leakage.

The blower door can also help us locate the leaks in a house. When you walk around the house with the blower door running you can feel the leaks with the back of your hand.

You don’t need a professional blower door to find air leaks. You can use an attic fan, window fans or exhaust fans in your bathrooms and kitchen to find leaks.  Simply close all your doors and windows and turn on every fan that you have that pushes air OUT of your house. Then walk around your basement feeling for air coming in around the outside walls and where pipes go through the floor. When you find these holes plug them with spray foam.