End the Draft!
When Lorraine and Roy learned they were going to have their first baby, they set out to find a new home that would accommodate their expanding family. They found that dream home in Milton, Ontario, a growing community just outside of Toronto.
“I was 8 months pregnant when we bought the house, and that gave us some time to prepare for the new baby,” said Lorraine. “It was springtime and we were very excited about our new home and having the extra room for a cozy nursery.”
Fast forward a few months and the arrival of their new son along with cool winter temperatures.
“I didn’t think we would have problems heating the house,” said Lorraine, “but we began to notice a lot of drafts throughout the house. When you have a little baby crawling on the floor, you don’t want a cold drafty house.”
Even with the heat turned up, the home remained drafty and cool in some of the rooms. Something needed to be done. So, with the help of an expert, they had the house evaluated in order to resolve their indoor comfort problems.
Once the home evaluation was completed, Lorraine and Roy were presented with a number of options for eliminating the cold drafts. On top of that list, was the use of Aeroseal duct sealing to stop leaks in the ductwork and ensure that all of the air being heated by the home’s furnace was actually getting to its intended destination.
The Aeroseal team at Niagra Duct Sealing was called in for the job. It took the two-man crew about 2 hours to set up the equipment and prepare the home for the duct sealing. This included temporarily closing off all of the heat vents in the house and connecting a large flexible hose from the Aeroseal equipment to the furnace plenum.
Once everything was ready, a fan attached to the Aeroseal system was turned on and the hose filled with air and sent it directly to the ductwork. With the vents sealed, this meant that the only way air could leave the ductwork was through any leaks that may be present. This allowed the Aeroseal team to measure exactly how much air was being lost through the leaks.
“This is a relatively new home and you could see from the exposed ductwork that attention was paid to sealing the system with metal tape,” said Roy. “So we were surprised to learn that we were still losing about 30 percent of our heated air through duct leaks.”
It took only about 20 minutes to reduce that leakage from the original 464 CFM (cubic feet per minute) to 29 CFM – a 90 percent reduction. When the process was completed, the computer-run Aeroseal system generated a final print-out report that clearly showed the significant difference Aeroseal made in sealing the leaks.
“The most important part was that we noticed an immediate difference in our comfort,” said Lorraine. “Our house was a lot warmer and we were able to turn the furnace down and still get heat to all corners of our home.”
“Not only did Aeroseal help eliminate the problems we were having with indoor comfort, but it allowed us to reduce our home energy bill as well,” said Roy. “It was fast, easy and really effective.”
Lorraine and Roy’s drafty home story was captured by the camera crew for the Marilyn Denis show and broadcasted for millions of viewers this last November. You can watch the  entire show segment by clicking on this link.