Moisture Control
Properly controlling moisture in your home will improve the effectiveness of your air sealing and insulation efforts, and vice versa. Thus, moisture control contributes to a home's overall energy efficiency.
The best strategy for controlling moisture in your home depends on your climate and how your home is constructed. Before deciding on a moisture control strategy for your home, you may first want to understand how moisture moves through a home.
Moisture control strategies typically include the following areas of a home:
• Attics
• Foundation
o Basement
o Crawl space
o Slab-on-grade floors
• Walls.
In most U.S. climates, you can use vapor diffusion retarders in these areas of your home to control moisture.
Proper ventilation should also be part of a moisture control strategy.
Moisture Control in Basements
To effectively insulate your basement for energy efficiency and to create a comfortable space, you need to properly control moisture in your basement.
Most basement water leakage results from either bulk moisture leaks or capillary action. Bulk moisture is the flow of water through holes, cracks, and other discontinuities into the home's basement walls. Capillary action occurs when water wicks into the cracks and pores of porous building materials, such as masonry blocks, concrete, or wood. These tiny cracks and pores can absorb water in any direction—even upward.
The best approaches for preventing these problems will depend on your local climate, type of insulation, and style of construction. However, the following general rules apply to most basement designs for creating a water-managed foundation system (see corresponding illustration):
1. Keep all untreated wood materials away from earth contact.
2. Provide drainage, such as gutters, to conduct rainwater away from the house.
3. Slope the earth away from all sides of the house for at least 5 feet at a minimum 5% grade (3 inches in 5 feet). Establish drainage swales to direct rainwater around.
4. Add a sill gasket to provide air sealing.
5. Install a protective membrane, such as caulked metal flashing or EPDM-type membrane, to serve as a capillary break that reduces wicking of water up from the masonry foundation wall. This membrane can also serve as a termite shield on top of foam board insulation.
6. Damp-proof all below-grade portions of the foundation wall and footing to prevent the wall from absorbing ground moisture by capillary action.
7. Place a continuous drainage plane over the damp-proofing or exterior insulation to channel water to the foundation drain and relieve hydrostatic pressure. Drainage plane materials include special drainage mats, high-density fiberglass insulation products, and washed gravel. All drainage planes should be protected with a filter fabric to prevent dirt from clogging the intentional gaps in the drainage material.
8. Install a foundation drain directly below the drainage plane and besides the footing, not on top of the footing. This prevents water from flowing against the seam between the footing and the foundation wall. Surround a perforated 4-inch plastic drainpipe with gravel and wrap both with filter fabric.
9. Underneath the basement's slab floor, install a capillary break and vapor diffusion retarder, consisting of a layer of 6- to 10-mil polyethylene over at least 4 inches of gravel.
Consult a qualified builder, basement designer, and/or insulation contractor in your area for specific basement moisture control measures concerning your climate, type of insulation, and construction style.
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Sealing Ductwork
A duct system that is well-designed and properly sealed can make your home more comfortable, energy efficient, and safer. Here are some reasons why duct improvements can be a wise investment:
Sealing and insulating ducts can help with common comfort problems, such as rooms that are too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter.
Indoor Air Quality
Fumes from household and garden chemicals, insulation particles, and dust can enter your duct system, aggravating asthma and allergy problems. Sealing ducts can help improve indoor air quality by reducing the risk of pollutants entering ducts and circulating through your home.
During normal operation, gas appliances such as water heaters, clothes dryers, and furnaces release combustion gases (like carbon monoxide) through their ventilation systems. Leaky ductwork in your heating and cooling system may cause “back drafting,” where these gases are drawn back into the living space, rather than expelled to the outdoors. Sealing leaks can minimize this risk.
Leaky ducts can reduce heating and cooling system efficiency by as much as 20 percent. Sealing and insulating ducts increases efficiency, lowers your energy bills, and can often pay for itself in energy savings. Plus, if you’re planning to install new heating and cooling equipment, a well-designed and sealed duct system may allow you to downsize to a smaller, less costly heating and cooling system that will provide better dehumidification.
Energy used in our homes often comes from the burning of fossil fuels at power plants, which contributes to smog, acid rain, and global warming. Simply put, the less energy we use in our homes, the less air pollution we generate. By sealing your ducts and reducing the amount of energy necessary to comfortably heat or cool your home, you can reduce the amount of air pollution generated.
 If you decide to seal your ductwork here are some key steps you should follow:..........
If you would like to read more, please use the “BuyNow” button below and you will gain an in instant access to the tenth Chapter of my new book dedicated to the energy conservation issues!
In Chapter, you will learn how to properly seal the ductwork, what kind of tool to use and where the sealant should be applied.
The chapter has 2 pages and 3 pictures in it. Price is only $1.34.
More info and ten videos added. (06/26/10).
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Question
Is it worth it to seal my attic HVAC boots?
It looks like I do not have insulated boots and when I went up to the attic today, I noticed the boot was cold to the touch and had a small draft coming from where the boot meets the Sheetrock of the ceiling.
I was thinking of using great stuff and sealing around the boot. I will use a combination of doors and windows great stuff and the normal expanding great stuff.
I also noticed a small hole in the diffuser box (I think that is what it is) and I will use great stuff to seal that. There is also a small amount of mold on some of the tape.
Bottom line, is it worth the cost for 20+ boots to seal with great stuff. I have blown fiberglass insulation and I live in Southern Alabama and will probably only live in this house for another 2-4 years.
Thanks
Nate
Answer
Twenty leaking boots can be a lot of air leakage. Sealing them can greatly increase your comfort, and reduce your cooling bill, along with your heating bill.
Any air leaks are worth sealing and any duct work in a unconditioned space its best to insulate as you are paying to condition the air as for using great stuff be careful it can go every where might try caulking first.
Question
Metal floor vent out of shape
The picture illustrates a metal floor vent with many leaks around the edges related to a forced air oil heating system. Lots of cold air leaks through the perimeter of the vent because the metal is not flush against the wood border.
 
What would you recommend to seal in the gaps? Is there a way to get the metal back to being flush against the wood border? I tried tapping it with a piece of wood and hammer but the metal was not holding to place.
Or should I foam it or use some sort of heat tape? I'm guessing the heat tape won't stay stuck to the wood. I want to be sure whatever I use will not catch fire from the heat and the register has to also fit back into the hole so the metal should not stick out further or the register won't be able to slide in.
Answer
Can of spray insulation foam and with extender tube on the can. Start as deep as you can go 360 degrees around the entire duct let it set up then around again, till it is flush right to the top/edge of the duct. Feed the foam in easy cause it expands and might ace the register going back in.
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Moisture Control in Walls
It is a myth that installing vapor barriers is the most important step for controlling moisture in walls. Vapor barriers only retard moisture due to diffusion, while most moisture enters walls either through fluid capillary action or as water vapor through air leaks.
All climates require these moisture control steps:
 • Install a polyethylene ground cover on the earth floor of houses with crawl spaces and slope the ground away from the foundations of all houses.
• Install a continuous vapor barrier, if your climate needs one (see map on this page) that has a perm rating of less than one.
• Place a termite shield, sill gaskets, or other vapor-impermeable membrane on the top of the foundation wall. This action will prevent moisture from wicking into the framed wall from the concrete foundation wall by capillary action.
Preventing Rain Penetration
Causes of rain leaks through exterior walls include improper installation of the following:
• Siding materials
• Poor-quality flashing
• Weather-stripping or caulking around joints in the building exterior (such as windows, doors, and bottom plates).
Wind-driven rain can also penetrate the exterior finish.
To enhance protection against rain penetration, create a drainage plane within the wall system of the home.
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Ductwork Insulation
www.energysavers.gov
Properly insulating air ducts located in unconditioned spaces such as attics, crawl spaces, garages, or unfinished basements can help improve your home's energy efficiency.
Air ducts supply conditioned air from your space heating and cooling equipment to your living spaces. They also return an equal volume of air back to the equipment to be conditioned again.
Ducts are typically made out of thin metal materials that easily conduct heat. Therefore, uninsulated or poorly insulated ducts in unconditioned spaces can lose through conduction 10%–30% of the energy used to heat and cool your home. The heating and cooling equipment then has to compensate for the heat loss and gain by conditioning additional air. This added conditioning raises a homeowner's energy bills. In addition, when ducts lose heat through conduction, rooms served by long duct runs can experience "cold blow" during the winter because they usually have lower heating-supply temperatures.
Ducts in conditioned spaces experience minimal conductive losses and gains since they are exposed to indoor air temperatures. However, these ducts may also require some insulation to prevent condensation on duct walls and to ensure that conditioned air is delivered at the desired temperature.
Credit: 30% of cost, up to $500.00
When and Where:
* 2009 and 2010 only
* Primary residence only
* Existing homes only
Materials:
R4 Duct Wrap Insulation Sleeve Insulation
R13 Wall Insulation “Silver” Tape
Staples
Tools:
Utility Knife Tape Measure
PC4000 - Heavy-Duty PowerCrown™ Tacker Templates
Before insulating, seal all the gaps around drive, pipe connections and take-offs. The best stuff for duct seal are special mastics or duct sealants. Do not use aluminum tape – it will not stick to old ductwork because they are covered with dust..........
Installation on the paid page might not exactly describe your upcoming project. However, it will give you an important example of how this type of installation should be done. In addition, it will open the gates for as many questions as necessary to make sure that the job is done right.
Four videos added (11/11/10).
Please use "Buy Now" button below, pay $2.50 and get instant access to the page!
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Aeroseal Air Duct Sealing
 The duct sealing process:
To start the Aeroseal duct sealing process, all room ceiling or floor registers are replaced with foam plugs.
A small access hole is cut into the supply or return air plenum and a temporary collar is attached. The air conditioning indoor coil, fan, and furnace are temporarily blocked with a foam plug to avoid the entrance of any sealing particles into this equipment.
Once the system is properly sealed the patented injection machine is connected to the air duct system using a flexible plastic tube.
The exclusive Aeroseal duct sealing system injects adhesive particles into the air duct system. The particles travel through the air duct system seeking holes and cracks that are located throughout the ductwork. The adhesive duct sealing particles attach directly onto the edges of any hole and crack effectively sealing it without coating the inside of the ductwork. |
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Tags
aerosol duct sealing system, best way to seal older ductwork,
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