Sealing Air Leaks Around Attic Chimney

Here s how to locate the leak spots and plug them without spending a lot of money.

Sealing air leaks around attic chimney. Air sealing the wall plate around the perimeter of your attic blocks air from escaping around the outer edges of your home. Wide to 4 in. Square hole that s acting like a chimney drafting expensive heated. The dirt comes from dusty air leaking into your attic.

Small air leaks into uninsulated attic space are a major source of heat loss in many homes. Sealing air leaks at ceiling penetrations can improve the efficiency of a home s heating and cooling systems. Air sealing the attic perimeter. After sealing attic air leaks complete the job by sealing basement leaks to stop the chimney effect.

Sealing an air leak around a chimney in the attic. Foam or caulk small gaps in your attic. Many building codes require a. Seal all gaps and cracks around rim joists though you may not be able to see cracks in the rim joist cavities it is best to seal up the top and bottom of the inside of the cavity.

Seal air leaks around fireplace chimneys furnaces and gas fired water heater vents with fire resistant materials such as sheet metal or sheetrock and furnace cement caulk. Backer rod or crack filler is a flexible foam material usually round in cross section 1 4 to 1 in diameter and sold in long coils. A home energy company has proposed a solution that involves sealing air leaks in the bedroom ceilings attic floor sealing around the chimney weatherizing the attic hatch insulating a few roof areas that the builders missed and adding cellulose to the rest of the attic to bring it up to r 60. What i found were unsealed gaps that varied from 2 in.

Fireplace flues are made from metal and over time repeated heating and cooling can cause the metal to warp or break creating a channel for air loss. The thick layer of fiberglass insulation that covers our attic floor was tightly packed around the chimney. Wide and warm air pouring through the insulation. If you do seal air leaks around flues make sure that you use heat resistant caulk.

It s usually the hardest place to air seal because the cramped space underneath the eaves where the roof rafters rest on the outer wall makes it hard to move your hands and head. Locating air leaks 1 2 getting started 1 4 sealing attic air leaks 1 6 additional sources of air leaks 2 1 sealing basement air leaks 3 1 adding attic insulation 4 1 when you see products or services with the energy star. A tremendous amount of heat can escape around the chimney if it isn t properly sealed. While most of the air leaks in your attic are probably covered up by insulation you can detect these air leaks by looking for patches of dirty or dark insulation.

Label you know they meet strict energy eficiency guidelines set by the u s. Environmental protection agency epa and the u.