Sealing Drafty Floors

Gaps between the floor and the baseboard can cause cold drafts to enter your home as well as air leaks that result in heat loss.

Sealing drafty floors.

Some rooms in my house have a pretty bad draft along the edge of the floor where it meets the outside walls. Sealing the vertical duct riser to the subfloor to see how much it would help the drafty vents. Hardwood floors are costly and should be maintained properly. To protect the flooring a clear polyurethane coating is often added to seal the flooring.

This reduces wear and tear and also adds a protective barrier that prevents water and moisture from seeping into the wood. You can do this with expanding foam sealant. Before air sealing you should first. Before applying the coat.

Other side effects include issues with moisture soil gases condensation and rusting or corrosion of the mechanicals. Sealing your dome lights pendant light bonnets and recessed lighting canisters with caulk goes a long way toward preventing heat loss to upper floors in your house. You can spray expanding foam between the drywall and framing. There isn t much you can do to completely eliminate upward drafts on a stairway but sealing upstairs windows with caulk and keeping them closed in cold weather reduces them.

Improving your home s energy efficiency with insulation caulk and weather stripping not only keeps it warm and comfortable but also leads to reduced energy use and heating bills that can dip by as much as 20 percent. The recommended strategy is to reduce air leakage as much as possible and to provide controlled ventilation as needed. Seal the wall plate where the top of walls meets the floor ceiling joists in the attic to ensure air does not leak at the outer edges of your attic roof. Knowing how to insulate and seal drafts in your house is the best way to keep energy bills down.

Danny parker a research scientist with the department of energy estimates that the homeowner could reduce energy consumption by between 3 and 18 percent by sealing household drafts. Assess your ventilation needs for indoor air quality. An added benefit is that sealing cracks and openings reduces drafts and cold spots improving comfort. Use a high quality foam sealant to seal all penetrations in the floor above the crawlspace.

Door snakes are 3 or 4 foot long fabric tubes stuffed with an insulating material that when positioned on the floor in front of a drafty. Do the same around the top plates of interior walls underneath the attic floor.