Air sealing penetrations
STEPHEN SHEEHY
| Posted in Energy Efficiency and Durability on
My new house is designed to limit penetrations through the building envelope to as few as possible. Nevertheless, sillcocks, outside electrical receptacles, outside lights, HRV intake/ exhaust, etc. need to be sealed.
Are there methods or products that are more effective than others? How about ease of installation? I’ve seen photos of tape covering holes and that seems like a pretty clunky solution. I’m probably going to either do much of the airsealing myself, or at least supervise it.
Thanks for any advice.
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Replies
Stephen,
There is no single answer to your question. Most builders use a combination of rubber boots, European tape, peel-and-stick flashing, and caulk. In some cases, canned spray foam is useful, although it doesn't always provide a foolproof seal.
If these products are new to you, you can survey the offerings of two online suppliers, 475 High Performance Building Supply and Small Planet Workshop.
How a brief description of what a cross section through a wall and roof looks like and how you air sealed them?
Also look up Grace Vycors new spray on air sealing methods. It looks very promising.
https://grace.com/construction/en-us/residential-building-materials