Why should you Seal your Loft and Roof for Air Leaks?
Air leaks can quickly make your insulation efforts ineffective, especially as they usually go unnoticed by homeowners. If your roof and loft area is not properly sealed, air leaks can start to cause negative effects across your home. This will prevent your property from being energy-efficient, your bills can begin to rise to pre-insulation costs, and you may have inconsistent internal temperatures.
Luckily, there are solutions for finding air leaks and preventing them from causing any problems to you and/or your home.
What is the Problem with having Air Leaks?
If air is easily escapable in your roof or loft area, then already any heating or cooling you are doing in your home, via radiators or air conditioners, this air will quickly escape through the leak. This means you will have to continuously use these energy-consuming devices.
From a health point of view, air leaks can be a common reason for condensation which may eventually lead to an infestation of mould in your loft, affecting indoor air quality.
How do Air Leaks Form?
Depending on your property type, air leaks can be caused by a variety of factors such as:
- Roof damage
- Piping issues
- Chimneys
- Air vents
No matter what caused them, it is important to know that the leak can lead to moisture issues and eventually mould infestations. Mould, in turn, will start to have negative effects on your health.
Typically, homeowners consider a “draught” to be an air leak, yet these commonly occur from windows and doors and do not usually leak. Most air leaks originate from your roof/loft area and easily go unnoticed. It is also important to treat air leaks in both your roof and loft separately as they can occur in both areas and have differing issues.
Insulation Issues from Air Leaks
Air leaks prevent any form of moisture control, which can affect your insulation material and eventually make them ineffective. Once your insulation has been compromised by mould, you will start to lose the benefits of the material that you once had.
After your insulation becomes ineffective, you will then need to replace it before it continues to rot and serves no purpose at all.
How to Prevent Air Leaks in your Roof & Loft Areas?
The best way to prevent these issues is to make sure that the areas are sealed off correctly. Therefore, this means sealing any opening spaces, such as doors to your loft, sealing the floor areas, any gaps from a chimney, vents and so on.
Depending on your type of roof and loft area, you may have a lot to seal off to make sure air leaks don’t form. However, with certain types of insulation, you can create an air seal directly from that and avoid these issues altogether.
We recommend consulting with insulation experts to inspect your loft and roof areas and provide the best course of action for your property. If you are worried you may have air leaks, then contact us today at 0203 411 5188 for a free consultation.
