Most people think of air leakage as a comfort problem: a draft by the window, a cold floor. It also affects how a home behaves in a fire, how much wildfire smoke gets inside, and how much you pay to heat the place. Here is how those pieces connect.
Fire: leaky homes can burn faster and hotter
In a home with a high air leakage rate, outside air is drawn in through the building envelope. During a fire, that airflow feeds the flames, so the fire can burn faster and hotter than it would in a tighter house.
Wildfire smoke gets in through the same gaps
The cracks that let cold air in also let smoke in. Reducing air leakage reduces the inflow of wildfire smoke and other outdoor pollutants, which helps both health and comfort during smoke season.
Heat loss: where your energy dollars go
Air leakage is a primary source of heat loss in most homes. Warm air rises and escapes at the top of the house, and cold air is pulled in from the foundation and other leaks to replace it. You pay to heat air that then leaves, and the house is less comfortable for it. We cover this in more detail in Why Your House Is Cold (And What You Can Actually Do About It).
Many leaks are cheap to fix once you find them
Window and door seals and caulking around cracks are low-cost, high-value updates. The hard part is knowing where the leaks are. A blower door test, done as part of an EnerGuide evaluation, measures how leaky your home is compared with a new home and pinpoints the leaks so you can fix the worthwhile ones first.
The bigger picture
Energy efficient homes tend to be more resilient to climate events and healthier to live in. Interest in climate resilience is growing among homeowners, and air tightness is one of the most practical places to start.
Contact ARG Energy to book an EnerGuide evaluation with a blower door test →
