Testing Which is Better: New Windows or Sealing Your Attic?

[@jeevespreston]

Hugely enlightening!! Thanks for sharing these useful details. Obviously, job #1 for any home is air seal first!!!

[@homeairleakagetest]

Thank you for the feedback and yes, I had the same feeling once I learned all of this!

[@marcisaacs9407]

Question- how do the work effect the heating and air conditioning costs? Clearly the air sealing was great and the original windows weren’t leaking that badly, but what about the u value dollars saved because of the new Windows. I suspect not that much. Please enlighten me on these questions. Respectfully

[@homeairleakagetest]

Hello! Thank you for stopping by! Looking solely at the air leakage modeling, when I calculate the projected savings before windows compared to with windows, it appears that the air sealing leads to approximately 10x more energy savings. Now, don't be misled here either. We are talking about energy savings of around $1000 with air sealing and $1100 with air sealing and windows. Comfort will be the bigger benefit as far as impact on your life.

[@als7594]

I started air sealing a few years ago as I found particular issues. The house is a split level built in 1960 which has all kinds of problems that were built into it. The original owners did nothing to improve on the issues, other than install double pane windows. When I bought it a few years ago the owners son said to me at the closing, my mom could never get warm in that house. If someone had actually seriously looked into why the woman couldn't get warm, it could have saved the parents a whole lot of money and grief over the years. I've picked off a few large obvious air leaks over the years as I found them. These corrections made a good size difference in my utility bills. Since February 24, it's been my one job to hunt down air leaks and seal up this house. Not done yet, but getting there little by little. Biggest aggravation is with the builder and the people who've worked on the house in the past. Oh we made a hole installing what ever, so instead of fixing it correctly, we'll just stuff insulation in this hole or do nothing, the owner will never notice it. Last week I found a good size opening coming out of my lower level into the garage. The HVAC ducts run through a cinder block wall, across the ceiling of the garage. I pulled out a large section of insulation between these ducts where they pass through the wall, just to see what was behind it. I found a 3" x 8" opening between the ducts. I was literally looking through the opening, down at my car in the garage. This is the kind of stuff that drives you crazy. These problems are what takes time to find a solution, and fix it correctly. Even with what I have left to do before the fall, the change in the house is unbelievable. Still have two biggies to go, the rim joist and the top plates in the attic. I really expect for how many problems I've found so far, to see at least an additional 25%-35% drop in my cooling and heating bills over the next year. Before I started this project my electric company said my home was one of the most efficient by 1-3% over what they considered efficient homes and using 35% less power than similar homes in the area. I started air sealing the whole house at the end of February. My power company is telling me in a letter that I got today, that my home is as April 2024, 19% more efficient than what they would call an efficient home, and that I'm using 50% less power than similar non efficient homes in my area. BTW don't expect similar gains, my house had a lot problems from the start and I haven't even gotten to the rim joist or totally sealed the attic yet. Anyone reading this that is planning on doing the work themselves, air sealing is inexpensive to do materials wise, but it is also very time intensive. If you're working and don't have much free time, hire someone. The other advantage to hiring an energy efficiency expert is, they know where all the hidden leaks are. 90% of the people doing air sealing themselves, will miss a lot of the little stuff, and those small items really add up. This is one of the issues that is taking up so much of my time, actually looking room by room for the air leaks that I might have missed the first or second time through.

[@homeairleakagetest]

Thanks so much for sharing this really great information. We get some of our best air leakage reduction results when we work on split-level houses. I have a bunch of video footage from several that I did, and I am wondering how to best use it. Once I found that the rim around the two-story portion did not extend through the attic area above the first-floor section - leaving the space between ceiling and floor above open - it was easy to understand why their daughter was always freezing in winter and hot in the summer with her room being on that side near the problem.

[@als7594]

@@homeairleakagetest Mine has all the standard issues that most houses generally have. Like I said in my post it was past building practices and people who've worked on the house over the years that were the worst. Older double hung windows with worn brush seals that were easily fixed with creative weather stripping, $6.75 a window. Plumbing Access panel in an unused bedroom not secured, now sealed. Attic stairs have a insulated attic stair tent and sealed with caulking and the door is weather stripped for additional air control. I have a mail slot in my front door. To solve that one I got a Mail Cage off Amazon UK, insulated it and bolted it to the door. Mailman would slip the mail in the slot and never push it all the way through which left the cover open until I got home from work. If he does that now it doesn't matter, because of the insulated box around the mail slot. I can't tell the number of holes drilled in baseboards and walls that I have found. One that I never paid much attention to that was bad, was a section of ceiling was missing in the stairwell coming up from the garage. That was another out of sight out of mind issue. I would look up and see joists exposed to the cold garage. I fixed, insulated and sealed everything up. I found three other good sized holes made in that same stairwell where they just stuffed insulation in to solve the problem. That stairwell looks like it was a major issue by itself. I thought the rim in the garage would be the worst to deal with, nope. There are so many holes that have been drilled or punched into the ceiling and walls for wiring. Those holes are letting air flow straight into the house. It's like playing hide and seek down there looking for any place air can leak into the house. The worst is that I have to seal the whole perimeter of the two car garage ceiling. There is a noticeable gap between the ceiling and the cinder block walls. Hopefully I'll have the garage done by the end of next weekend. The best part of air sealing is that it is cumulative, everything you do builds, toward having a more energy efficient house.

[@brettpfaff5045]

Great video my guy ! I’m an auditor in Maryland as well. I have the same success rate and most of my leads are window customers 😂

[@homeairleakagetest]

Very cool! Thanks for watching!

[@jamesgrabitz7480]

Get to the point

[@homeairleakagetest]

Windows lose.

[@Esona]

I wish I had a blower test done between upgrades. I had just recently replaced all of my windows from single pane, no weather sealing; feeling the cold air just blowin in in the winter (past the blocks of ice that it forms, that is), to now triple pane. I know for fact (I sound like your customer) that it contributed GREATLY to my rating; mostly in the heat loss area. Since getting that first evaluation though, I've had a completely different outlook of air leaks. I've since filled every hole I can find now and have noticed a huge change! I just reaallly don't like doing it in the attic where I've already got a ton of blown in insulation to deal with =\

[@homeairleakagetest]

Thank you so much for watching! Are you saying that your new windows are triple pane and they helped, but once you started sealing other holes, you noticed a more significant difference in home comfort from that measure compared to the windows?

[@madgemccoy4695]

Thank you for this video. I am in the process of sealing those gaps.

[@homeairleakagetest]

Thanks so much for watching and commenting. I am really glad that this has helped you!

[@jamesthompson2039]

Great video! Insulating and air sealing are of utmost importance. Out of curiosity, what type of windows were previously on the home and what type were upgraded?

[@homeairleakagetest]

Thanks for watching! The window that were replaced were clear glass single pane wood windows with aluminum storm windows. The new windows were made in Maryland by a company called Vytex. Their Potomac Series window. There are variances with U-factor and Solar Heat Gain Coefficient based on the glass package and unfortunately I don't remember but they qualified for rebates from ENERGY STAR.

[@mryan4452]

I don't get it good windows don't do much for draughts, they reduce heat loss through the glass? Also if you seal the house up too much do you not start getting problems damp/condensation and smells? House needs ventilation? I know there are a few holes in ceiling in my house (for instance above lighting fixture) but I figure I need some ventilation right? Obviously if it's peppered with small draughty holes that's a different story.

[@homeairleakagetest]

Hello, and thank you for checking out the video! You are discussing the difference between controlled and uncontrolled air movement through the house. When you get an energy audit done, one of the things we look at is indoor air quality. If we can tighten up the house very well, we can add mechanical ventilation to create a stream of fresh air. In older houses, we do this using bathroom exhaust fans, and in new builds, they put ventilation systems into the HVAC. Leaving holes around the house does not work due to pressure. Holes at the house's ceiling are a recipe for your conditioned warm air to rapidly escape (warm air rises up). Seal up top and get fresh air in less costly ways. In my opinion, windows can help more in summer compared to winter.

[@TJ-22]

Great content. With the gas fireplace damper closed, is it typically leaky to and from the attic?

[@homeairleakagetest]

Thank you and I am glad you found it helpful! Yes, you can absolutely get air communication between the inside and outside when you have a gas fireplace. Typically, the fireplace chimney runs up through the house to the attic and out. The house is designed with a "pathway" through the house to accommodate the chimney. What I usually see is that it is open at the attic floor. So you may not lose energy through the chimney with the damper closed, but around the chimney instead. If the fireplace is built outside of the exterior wall, this can still happen at the top and sometimes you can also get air coming in from outside and below the fireplace (like an overhang/cantilever).

[@creedohler8526]

The answer should be more obvious than it is to most

[@homeairleakagetest]

That is why we need to spread the word! Thanks for watching!

[@HeavyPressureHvac]

Great video! In very hot climate, for example Arizona, would you still give the same advice about windows?

[@homeairleakagetest]

Thanks for watching! I would give the same advice, yes. I would give priority to western and southern facing windows (low-e) but a good set of shades or blinds can also do the trick!

[@HeavyPressureHvac]

@@homeairleakagetest great thank you!😎

[@homeairleakagetest]

You can learn more about my personal replacement window story here hometrustremodeling.com/my-window-story

[@gregmartisius3195]

HCG, I put new windows in last year, mostly because I was adding an additional 1” of rigid insulation to my house before I replaced the old vinyl siding. The old windows 35 yrs old, weather strips were failing, operation of the windows was fair etc, so that was enough reason for me to change them. I’ve tried to air seal this house myself, I’d be curious of results of a test like yours. Was the 4200 CFM typical for air leaks in your area? How big was the house sq. ft.?

[@homeairleakagetest]

Hello, to compare, you should consider the home's living space volume. This sample house was 2438 ft2 of conditioned space, and both floors were around 8.5'. So, the living space volume of this sample home was roughly 20,723 ft3. Before work, the house had approximately 12 air changes per hour (ACH), calculated by multiplying the CFM50 (4187) by 60 and dividing by the living space volume. After air sealing this house, the ACH changed to 6. You must have the blower door test to get down to the science. Good luck with your endeavor, and thank you for watching!!

[@buckshot5896]

Windows do make home more comfortable in summertime and saved me over 20% in my cooling cost. I had Anderson double pain casement windows from 1984(still great shape, wood/aluminum) I replaced with same windows but with low e and argon. Made huge difference. I did buy their high end windows just for curb appeal but the low e made difference. My old windows never leaked, it was crawl space, doors and attic that was in rough shape, holes everywhere lol

[@homeairleakagetest]

You got it! You did it for the right reasons and were in the driver's seat! Unfortunately, most homeowners don't have this perspective. Thank you for helping to spread the word! Do you have a lot of west and south-facing windows?

[@barbhoefener]

Save you time. Pressure test for house air leak. before 4,000. After seal attic 2,000. After entire 22 window replacement 1,800. Moral- windows only help 6-10% energy. Vs seal and insulate

[@homeairleakagetest]

Yeah thanks for watching. You can also read that in the video description. I guess you go around watching videos and summarizing them in the comments to save others time? You are living your best life.