Sue in Ajax has seen enough home improvement TV shows to completely confuse her. When changing the siding and adding ridged foam insulation, should the house wrap go on first or last? She has seen it done both ways on TV.The answer is Yes! That's right, both ways work fine.The job of the h...
Caulking on the outside of the house has very little to do with stopping cold air drafts from getting into the house. It's purpose is to weather proof the wall against rain penetration. It doesn't generally stop air flow since most siding is purposefully ventilated.Caulking inside the house ...
An air barrier is whatever it takes to prevent air from moving through the walls or ceiling of your house. Talking about air barriers means talking about sealing your house. An air barrier is not a vapour barrier -- and it is more important than vapour barriers.Why should you seal your house...
False. If you increased the sealing of the house and did nothing to ventilate or control moisture generation, humidity would build up and force more moisture through the unsealed cracks. But window condensation and air quality demands forces us to keep the humidity in the house to a constant co...
False. Fiberglass is what air filters are made out of -- it cleans air but doesn't stop it. It can be used to fill a crack if it is then coated with caulking to seal it. Stuffing fiberglass tightly into the space between the window rough and finish frames will not even insulate very well, as c...
There are two systems that work well on the outside of the house and have, almost by accident, the effect of blocking almost all air movement through the wall. (Caulking is not one of them and should never be used on the outside of the house beyond what is necessary to prevent rain and snow ...
Air leaks account for the greatest loss of heating dollars from Canadian homes. These are easily solved by sealing. The greatest conductive heat losses occur through the basement. Canadian basements typically lose more heat than ceilings because attics usually have a little insulation (eve...
Air leaks through the moving parts of windows accounts for as much as 14 per cent of the heat loss in a typical Canadian house. Picking the right kind of windows can certainly help:-- Fixed windows with no moving parts can be completely sealed. -- Fixed window panes with small moveable section...
You should not put any insulation or sealing materials inside the electrical boxes as the air space is needed to keep the wires from overheating.In new construction we set the electrical box inside a "poly-pan" which then seals down to the vapour barrier, giving an air-tight electrical box. ...
Terry has heard that if you want to stop drafts, you need to take the trim off from around the inside of windows and seal that gap between the drywall and the window frame behind the trim. He suggests simply covering this gap with aluminum duct tape.That is a great idea Terry. Aluminum duct tap...
