How Does a Home Envelope Affect the Temperature in Your House?

Your home’s building envelope forms a physical barrier between your home’s interior and the outdoor environment. It comprises your doors, windows, walls, foundation, and roof. Besides providing structural support and aesthetic appeal, it plays a significant role in your home comfort and energy efficiency. Keep reading to find out how your home envelope can increase or decrease your comfort and improve or hurt your wallet.

A Path for Air Leakage

If your home’s envelope isn’t well sealed, it will have several air-leakage pathways, including:

• Gaps around windows and doors
• Joints between construction materials
• Penetrations for ductwork, piping, and wiring

This leakage allows moisture and cold drafts or unwanted outdoor heat to flood your home and downgrade your comfort. It could also let airborne pollutants in, lowering your indoor air quality. And let’s not forget how much of your home’s conditioned air you’ll lose to the outdoors, leading to higher heating and air-conditioning costs.

Air-Sealing Your Home Envelope

One of the best ways to make your home energy efficient is by air sealing your home’s envelope. The best time to do so is when your home is first being built, before drywall installation. It’s much easier and more cost-effective to incorporate the energy-efficiency measures into a new construction than into a house that’s already complete.

If you have an already finished house, you can schedule a blower-door test to identify the air leakage points on the building envelope. There are many products that you can use to seal the envelope, such as caulks, weatherstripping, foams, door sweeps, and gaskets. Using adequate amounts of insulation in your roof and walls and installing more-efficient windows, skylights, and doors will also improve your home’s envelope.

With an improved envelope, you’ll enjoy indoor temperatures that are more even. While the improvement project will require an initial sum of money, you’ll recover the costs over time due to your lower energy expenses.

If you have any questions about your home envelope, please contact us at Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning. We help homeowners in the Lorain area meet all their home-comfort needs.