How They Waste Energy and Rot Houses One-Third of the Energy You Buy Probably Leaks Through Holes in Your House

BY JOHN STRAUBE

topping air is the second-most-important job worse. energy efficiency requires a tight shell; good Leaky rim of a building enclosure. Next to rain, air leaks indoor-air quality requires fresh outdoor air. Ideally, the joists matter. Floor and wall through walls, roofs, and floors can have the most fresh air should come not from random accidental leaks connections damaging effect on the durability of a house. of unknown size and quantity, but from a known source offer many air- SUncontrolled airflow through the shell not only carries at a known rate. For this to happen, the house needs an leakage oppor- moisture into framing cavities, causing mold and rot, but adequate air barrier and a controlled ventilation path. tunities. The wall sheathing it also can account for a huge portion of a home’s energy In a leaky house, large volumes of air—driven by on this house use and can cause indoor-air-quality problems. exhaust fans, the stack effect, and wind—can blow in Minnesota A tight house is better than a leaky house, with a caveat: through the floor, walls, and ceiling. because air usually experienced A tight house without a ventilation system is just as bad contains water vapor, these uncontrolled air leaks can serious rot because duct- as a leaky house with no ventilation system—maybe cause condensation, mold, and rot—as seen below. work in the floor framing pulled moist air into poorly sealed rim joists.

AIR LEAKS How They Waste Energy and Rot Houses One-third of the energy you buy probably leaks through holes in your house

www.finehomebuilding.com Photo this page: courtesy of the builders Association of minnesota OcTOber/NOvember 2012 45 COPYRIGHT 2012 by The Taunton Press, Inc. Copying and distribution of this article is not permitted. Wind

The leeward side has negative pressure; air is sucked out of the house.

The wind that pushes air into one side of a house also sucks it out the other side. If the outdoor air is moister than the indoor air, water can + be driven into fram- The air inside the house is negatively pressurized relative ing on windward to the windward side and sides. On a gusty positively pressurized relative to the leeward side. If indoor winter day, the pat- air is moister than outdoor air, tern of wind pressure moisture can be sucked into the framing on leeward sides. can be seen as swirls The windward around corners and side of a house has edges that sweep positive pressure; wind pushes air (and snow from specific wind-blown rain) areas. It is important into windows, walls, Low-slope roofs roof penetrations, to have good air- Swirls and eddies occur at corners of and leaky rim joists. buildings. You can sometimes see them as barrier details where snow patterns on a roof. These corners and roofs, walls, floors, connections are important to get airtight. and foundations meet. - The only way you can know for sure that from and have a chance that air quality (and + the air coming into a house is clean is to quantity) can be controlled. - know where it’s coming from. People who The importance of an air barrier is recog- - say “I want my house to breathe” are really nized in canada, where the national build- saying “I want to rely on the mistakes that ing code has required one for 25 years. In were made by the plumber and the electri- the United States, it’s absent from state cian to provide me with fresh air.” That’s energy codes and has just recently been added Wind is somewhat predictable, or at least its exceptionally dangerous. Any air that to the 2009 version of ASHrAe’s energy average speed and direction are. Fans include enters a house through leaks in the building efficiency Standard (ASHrAe 90.1). In kitchen and bath exhaust fans, HvAc envelope may be loaded with pollutants. 2006, the International residential code equipment fans, and clothes dryers. The The dead squirrel in your attic and the tightened up the language to require walls stack effect generates pressure because warm SUv idling in your garage are not going to be sealed, and as of 2009, the Iecc air rises, pushing up and out on the ceiling in to provide you and your family with fresh requires airtightness testing. cold weather (see “How It Works” in FHB indoor air. #213 and at FineHomebuilding.com). many indoor-air-quality problems are Wind can push drafts through Peak wind loads that are listed in the model related to poor control of air flowing through a house; air barriers push back building codes are fairly high (usually more an enclosure that has been damaged by many houses built to code are leaky. Air leaks than 20 lb. per sq. ft. or 1000 pascals). On exposure to moisture, heat, or Uv-rays. can be responsible for a third or more of the average, however, local wind pressure is Good indoor-air quality comes from having energy loss in typical houses. quite a bit lower. For a house, 5 Pa is likely, a good air barrier. Only with a good air bar- What pushes and pulls air through a house? and in a high-rise building, maybe 40 Pa, rier can we know where the air is coming Three things: wind, fans, and the stack effect. 50 Pa, or even 60 Pa. The pressure exerted

46 FINe HOmebUILDING Drawings: christopher mills. Photo this page: Daniel morrison. Photo facing page: courtesy of David Keefe. COPYRIGHT 2012 by The Taunton Press, Inc. Copying and distribution of this article is not permitted. by a blower door—50 Pa—is roughly equal On the leeward side, negative pressure sucks story; when it’s hot, the pressure is about 1.5 to the pressure of a 16-mph wind or around indoor air through walls and windows. Pa per story. However, unlike most other 1 lb. per sq. ft. pressures, the stack effect acts every hour of A low-slope roof (less than 3-in-12 pitch) The stack effect: When every cold day, so the flows generated by the is usually under negative pressure when the buildings act like chimneys stack effect are significant. wind blows over it. Air is sucked up through Like wind, the stack effect can push large vol- the roof because the aerodynamics of the umes of air through an envelope. In winter, HVAC equipment can overpower wind passing over the roof’s leading edge warm air in a heated building is lighter (less wind and the stack effect cause negative pressure. On a house with a dense) than cold air outside; that warm bub- Air pressure created by fans—particularly steep roof (more than 3-in-12), the pressure is ble of air wants to rise up and out. The flow range hoods, dryer exhausts, and large vent positive on the windward side and negative of air leaving the top of the building draws fans—can overwhelm wind and the stack on the leeward side. cold air in through cracks at the bottom. effect. If we blow air into a building, we Wind is highly complicated, however. The reverse happens in summer, when pressurize it. A 10-Pa pressurization spreads When wind tries to flow around buildings, hot air outside an air-conditioned house can through a building, and pressure increases the highest pressure is on the “sweet spot” push cooler indoor air down from the ceil- everywhere. Negative pressurization drops in the middle. As the wind goes around ing and out cracks in the basement. This can pressure everywhere around the building. corners, it creates large swirls and negative cause moisture problems on the top floor as High-end houses often have large, pow- pressures (visible on snowy roofs after a high humid exterior air is drawn through leaks in erful downdraft range hoods with exhaust wind). Wind-related structural damage the upper floor’s walls—especially for houses fans that are rated at 1000 cfm or more. If often occurs at these high-pressure spots or at with leaky rim joists. you don’t provide makeup air for such a areas of low-pressure swirling. The differences in temperature and pres- large volume of exhaust, the whole house Wind exerts positive pressure on the wind- sure are less during the summer than during will become strongly negatively pressur- ward walls of a building, causing air leaks the winter. When it’s cold outside, the pres- ized. You’ll start sucking on the garage, and on the side of the building facing the wind. sure created by the stack effect is 4 Pa per you’ll breathe air sucked backward through

Stack

effect Winter Summer Warm air In winter, In summer, is more buoy- rising warm the opposite happens ant than cold air escapes through the because air. Different roof and is inside air is air tempera- replaced by often cooler cold air sucked than outside tures within a in through air. As dense house naturally stratify. As the floor. indoor air sinks, it cold air sinks, it pushes up The effect is strongest in pulls hot lighter warm air. The stack winter. This outside air effect gets more powerful two-story in through house is under the ceiling as buildings grow taller. about 8 Pa and roof. (Note the billowing at the of constant In summer, this house is top of the tarp in the photo upward pressure. under about above.) In fact, after sky- 3 Pa of downward scrapers were first devel- pressure. oped, revolving doors had to be invented because cold air rushed in with so much pressure that it was difficult to pull the doors open from the outside or push them open from the inside.

october/november 2012 47 COPYRIGHT 2012 by The Taunton Press, Inc. Copying and distribution of this article is not permitted. Gas fireplaces Mechanical can suck Bath fans 1200 cfm typically remove 100 cfm

Clothes dryers, bath fans, and range hoods exhaust air from a house. If makeup air isn’t supplied with a duct, it A clothes dryer will leak in through cracks. can pull out Even worse, makeup air will be backdrafted through 200 cfm combustion appliances, Range hoods can exhaust which can cause carbon- up to monoxide poisoning. Using sealed-combustion appli- 2000 cfm ances and makeup-air units for large range hoods gets around this problem.

Furnaces need up to Water heaters require up to 150 cfm 100 cfm

your water-heater vent. You will harvest faces from contacting humid indoor air. Air so leaky. The relative humidity in old houses radon from the soil around the house and has a maximum storage capacity for water rarely rose above 25% during the winter. As suck air backward down your fireplace, vapor that depends on temperature. Warm we have built tighter houses with inadequate bringing deadly carbon monoxide with it. air can store lots of moisture, while cold air or nonexistent mechanical ventilation, the People die every year because of backdraft- can store very little. As the temperature falls indoor relative humidity (rH) has gone up. ing created by exhaust appliances like this. from 80°F down to 20°F, the amount of In a tight, unventilated house, the amount of If you want to avoid sucking air backward moisture that can be stored in the air changes moisture in the air is dramatically different through the combustion appliances and by a factor of 10. This is like a gas tank that from that in an old leaky house. condensa- cracks in your home, provide makeup air for shrinks as the temperature gets colder. When tion occurs wherever water vapor can find a your range hood, dryer, and other exhaust it’s hot, you can store a lot in this tank; when cold spot: on the roof or wall sheathing, on appliances. The 2009 Irc (m1503.4) requires it’s cold, however, you can’t store much at all. the inside faces of the windows, and inside a separate mechanical makeup-air unit for If you had a large tank filled with gas and the walls. range hoods of more than 400-cfm capacity. you shrunk it, eventually the gas would spill Let’s say that it’s 30°F outside and the out- over. That’s condensation. door relative humidity is 50%. If that out- Moisture rides on air currents door air enters a 70°F house, the amount of by controlling airflow, you also control Old leaky homes didn’t have moisture that’s in the air stays the same, but the moisture that moves with air. If moist condensation problems the “tank” gets bigger because the storage indoor air hits a cold surface, condensation Older buildings rarely had condensation capacity of the air increases with the temper- can result. An air barrier prevents cold sur- problems in cold weather because they were ature. As a result, the relative humidity ini-

48 FINe HOmebUILDING Photo this page: courtesy of International Association of certified Home Inspectors COPYRIGHT 2012 by The Taunton Press, Inc. Copying and distribution of this article is not permitted. How much moisture do we really add to the air? 10-minute shower A family of four can add, on average, up 1 pint/day to 25 pints of water to the air simply by washing dishes, taking showers, cooking, and breathing. Adding 4 pints of water to the air in a house at 70°F and 30% RH can boost the RH to 50%. Eight pints can boost RH to 70%. Exhaust ventilation at the source of the moisture is the best way to keep moisture problems in check. 5-7 houseplants 1 pint/day Respiration/ perspiration 0.4 pints/day Indoor line-drying of clothes Cooking 4-6 pints/ 2-4 pints/day load (3-6 pints/day with gas)

Washing dishes

0.7 pints/day 1 cord of firewood 2-6 pints/day

Wet basement 2-4 pints/sq. ft./day

tially drops. No condensation can occur if the Installing an air barrier is one good way to cutting holes in walls. However, condensa- air is heated up. However, once the outdoor help prevent condensation. tion is sometimes easily visible in the attic; all air is in the house, moisture is added to the you have to do is look for frost or dampness indoor air but the temperature of the house Air-conditioning also can create forming on the underside of the OSb or ply- stays the same. Hence, the relative humid- condensing surfaces wood roof sheathing. It doesn’t take much ity and the absolute moisture content rise. In summer, the same phenomenon can hap- of a hole in the ceiling of a humid house for How do you add moisture to the air? You pen in reverse. When hot, humid outdoor air condensation to accumulate as frost. Then breathe, sweat, boil water, take hot showers, (85°F, 75% rH) leaks inside, the moisture when the sun warms up the black shingle and grow houseplants. in the air condenses when it hits a surface roof, the frost melts, the water falls, and you Let’s say now that the indoor air leaks out below about 76°F—for example, on plastic assume that you have a roof leak. In short, of the house through holes in the enclo- vapor barriers cooled by air-conditioning. air that leaks through your walls, windows, sure. If the temperature of the outdoor air In a tight house with a good air barrier and roof, or basement can result in nothing but is around 30°F, the indoor air will drop all a supply-only ventilation system, however, trouble. building tight and ventilating right of the moisture that it gained inside on the most of the air that’s drawn inside comes remain the best advice. □ way out, dumping it on the cold sheathing through the air conditioner, so the first cold surface. because any condensation that forms surfaces it sees are the cooling coils. John Straube, Ph.D., P.Eng., is a prin- in walls can cause puddles—and in extreme If you have air leaks in the envelope, you cipal of Building Science Corp. and a cases, rot the house’s framing—condensa- usually can’t see the condensation—unless professor of building science at the tion is something you will want to avoid. you’re a forensic engineer who goes around University of Waterloo in Ontario. www.finehomebuilding.com OcTOber/NOvember 2012 49 COPYRIGHT 2012 by The Taunton Press, Inc. Copying and distribution of this article is not permitted.