Special Friday Blog Series: Final Edition!

Friday, June 30th, 2017 by Joy Padgett

This is the last Friday in our Special Friday Blog series where we’ve been talking about some of the industry-specific language you may hear from your energy assessor.

Today, let’s talk about Convection as it pertains to our homes.

First, let’s define “convection”. Convection is heat carried along by air or water movement. It’s how we heat our homes.

We heat air with a furnace or water with a boiler and that hot air or water to the rooms we want to heat. However, this can work against us when the air leaks out of the house and takes the heat with it. Since we are paying to heat this air (or water) we don’t want to waste it!

So, how do we keep this heated air where we want it? Well, we use different methods and/or products to stop the air from flowing in and out of the house in hundreds of different places. Plumbers and electricians drill big holes and run small pipes or wires or components through these holes leaving gaps for air to flow through. We have to seal those holes to prevent air from leaking out.

Unfortunately, many of these gaps and cracks are buried underneath insulation and are difficult to see without digging down through the insulation. So, how do we know our attic, for example, contains these so-called gaps and cracks? Great question! If you notice darkened insulation in your attic, this is evidence of air washing which is air moving through the insulation and using it as a filter. Air washing deposits dust and debris into the insulation.

Weatherization Plus is completely equipped to detect and fix those gaps and cracks in both the attic and crawl space or basement. We proudly serve from Chaplin to Midway to Waddy to Salvisa to Stamping Ground and everywhere in between!