FIND THE AIR LEAKS

ISSUE: Half the heat your house loses in the winter is through air leaks.

SOLUTION: If a leak is big enough, you can find it by holding a stick of incense near doors, windows, and electrical outlets or switch plates. Whenever the smoke moves, you’ve found a leak. But the best option for finding leaks is a blower door – a fan mounted in a doorway that creates a pressure difference between indoors and out. The door measures that subtle pressure difference, along with the amount of air moving through the door. It has another effect, too: amplifying air leaks. If the outdoor air is 10–15 °C cooler than the indoor air, you can feel the leaks with a wet hand. For a much more accurate assessment, rent a fog machine from a partysupply store. Set the blower door to blow air into the house, fill a room with fog, and then go outside and see where the fog is getting out.

SIGNS YOU HAVE AIR LEAKS ª There are streaks of dust on surfaces. ª You can hear noise from outside or the other room. ( A lot more sound gets through a wall with leaks than one without.) ª You wear a wool cap to the dinner table. ª Your children are shivering.