Don't Play an April Fools Joke on Your Home

The month of April is kicked off by one of the most unique holidays celebrated around the world, April Fool’s Day. This holiday is filled with pranks, false claims, and a lot of yelling APRIL FOOLS! In honor of this holiday, we would like to give you our top 5 April Fools’ claims about energy efficiency and home comfort.

1.       Vented Crawl Spaces are Better than Encapsulated Crawl Spaces: Vented crawl spaces are designed to get the moisture out. The problem is that these vents actually let humid air in during the summer. This adds moisture to the crawl space, creating humidity issues. These issues make your home harder to air condition because your A/C has to work harder to keep up with this additional humidity. In the winter the vents let in cold air which creates cold floors and makes your home harder to heat.

2.       Fiberglass is a Better Insulator than Cellulose: While fiberglass will insulate your home, it is designed to let air flow through it. Cellulose insulation is dense and designed to be a barrier between the levels of your to keep air from passing through. This traps the conditioned air in your home while keeping the attic temperatures out of your living space.

3.       Air Sealing Your Home is a Bad Idea: Air sealing your attic is a crucial step to making your home more comfortable and efficient. Air sealing eliminates any areas of your attic that allow conditioned air to leak out of the livable space in your home.

4.       I Don’t Need to Seal the Duct Work in my Attic:  If your HVAC ductwork is in your attic, it is being exposed to extremely cold temperatures in the winter, and hot humid temperatures in the summer. Sealing your ductwork fills any cracks or holes where air can escape. With the ductwork sealed it also acts as a consistent environment that keeps your system from being overworked.

5.       Recessed lights don’t need to be covered: Recessed lights are a major source of air leakage throughout your home. With no cover or sealing around your recessed light, the hot or cold air you pay for could be leaking into the attic. We use light covers that are sealed with our fire block spray foam to ensure a complete seal and cover of the recessed lights in your house. Covers also allow you to insulate your attic completely without the worry of fire or the charring of insulation due to the heat given off by the lights.

These are just some of the false claims we hear from homeowners every day about efficiency and comfort solutions to their homes.

If you’re interested in setting up an appointment with one of our trained Home Comfort Specialists to discuss problems your home may be experiencing, or what steps we can take to make your home more efficient and comfortable, call us today at 1-410-867-1202!