Air-Seal Wall Penetrations Efficiently
Even the smallest areas of your home need to be completely airtight.
Sponsored by Loctite® TITE FOAM
Proper air-sealing in older houses can make all the difference when it comes to energy efficiency and long-term durability. Electrical outlets and wall-penetrating cables are two regions where air leaks are common. At this visit, Tyler Grace works to treat these areas with extra care in the Loctite® 2nd Chance House.
Here’s the Transcript
Today is the last day of my first visit to the Loctite® 2nd Chance House. We’ll be using today as an opportunity to walk the site and address any remaining air-sealing concerns that we might have. We’ll pay special attention to any through-wall penetrations or voids within the framing, and we’ll seal those up using Loctite® TITE FOAM products.
A common area of air leakage in an older home or remodel is around the electrical outlets. What happens is the insulators come in with traditional fiberglass, and they cut around this device. The insulation never gets tucked behind it, leaving an air gap here.
We’re going to use the Loctite® TITE FOAM Gaps & Cracks. That’s good for filling voids and cracks up to 1 in. We’ll fill behind the outlet and seal between the sheathing and the electrical box.
As a remodeler, I never know what I’m going to run into on any job, so I like to keep an assortment of these Loctite® TITE FOAM products in my truck to be prepared.
Right here, we have a stud that’s smaller than the one beside it. This fiberglass insulation is going to get cut to fill the void, but we need to create a thermal break and an air barrier in this gap. Since the gap is smaller than an inch, I’ll fill it with the Gaps & Cracks Foam to prevent air infiltration.
During a remodeling project, it’s pretty common to have through-wall penetrations from a new service like this electrical cable. Traditional fiberglass insulation will slow the transmission of air, but it won’t actually seal the cavity. So we’re going to air-seal it with Loctite® TITE FOAM Big Gaps, which can seal up to 3 in.—perfect for this application.
One thing I really like about these Loctite® TITE FOAM products is that they remain flexible and pliable once they’re cured. This is really important, especially in an application like this where someone might bump into a wire. If the foam were completely rigid, bumping into it would break the air seal and defeat the purpose of using it.
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