The gold standard for air sealing

Today Trish and I had the privilege of visiting a home that was getting the deluxe treatment with regards to air sealing. This home was undergoing a beautiful renovation and the homeowner figured if they were paying to have an incredibly well insulated home, it also made sense to have an airtight one too. The homeowner, Mike, was right! 

I’ve made the analogy before but it really works so I’ll use it again. Insulation is like the sweater we wear on cold days while the air barrier is like the wind breaker. We need both to stay warm on cold days and so does our house (it also needs a vapour barrier and a weather barrier but those are topics for another day!)

So what does the gold standard of air sealing look like? Called AeroBarrier, the air sealing technology involves pressurizing a house and spraying in an aerosol that contains an acrylic compound. The material enters the home as a vapour and since the home is pressurized it’s pushed to the outer edges of the home. If it finds a spot to latch onto it will. If not, it’ll keep moving around until it does. A home the size of Mike’s took about three hours and one bucket of product to seal.

The results were amazing. A 50% improvement in air leakage, with air tightness that’s comparable to a new home. The homeowner will see results in reduced energy bills (an estimated savings of $300 - $400/year) and incredible comfort. Also the side benefits of lower air leaks means less noise, dust and unwanted creatures will enter the home. 

Stay tuned for our next blog post where I will share the details on how this technology can also help you with leaky ductwork!

If you’d like to nerd out on this really interesting technology you can learn more here.

The crew supervises the installation which took 3 hours.