How to Keep Your Home Sealed From Outside Elements

/in /by

Your home is designed to protect you from outside elements, but too often, it does its job imperfectly. If your home has unseen cracks or gaps, the cold, heat, rain, wind, and even pests can get inside, making your life unpleasant, and causing costly damage. You can avoid the problem by taking steps to seal your home from these threats.

Add Insulation

Insulation is vital to keeping heat inside your home in the winter and coolness inside in the summer. If you notice your energy bills are increasing, or if you feel drafts, you may lack sufficient insulation. You should have insulation in your walls, floors, crawlspace and attic.

Older homes were often built with poor insulation, and they skipped many vital areas. Even with newer homes, existing insulation can deteriorate over time. Blown-in types of insulation can be installed over the insulation you already have.

Close Entry Points

Gaps in doors, windows, siding, roof, and other spaces can not only allow rain and cold to enter your home, but also give unwanted creatures like insects, rodents, and bats a way inside. Sealing points of entry can prevent tiny pests from entering your home.

First, inspect all areas around all windows, doors, framing, and any pipes entering the house. Check for holes near the foundation of your home and along the roofline. In most cases, you can seal these gaps with caulking. Install screening in your dryer vent to prevent birds from building nests.

Waterproof Your Foundation

A leaky basement or crawlspace is more than a nuisance. Frequent flooding can damage anything you have stored in your basement and make it impossible to use. And, over time, water leaks can cause damage to the foundation, leading to uneven floors and sagging walls. The moisture also encourages the growth of dangerous mold.

The specific type of waterproofing you need depends on the structure of your home and the severity of the problem. Often, you’ll just need to apply waterproof paint or sealant. In other cases, you may need to install drains or sump pumps.

When your home is properly sealed from outside elements, you may find it easier to heat and cool your home, and your energy bills could go down. You’ll also have fewer problems with pests. A little action now can save you time, trouble, and money in the future.

Check out this article on maintenance that can help fortify your home against the elements!