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as well as makes it easier to find places where air is able to get into the house from outside.” Some places leaks commonly occur are around outside hose bibbs and gaps around the chimney. A huge leak in her parents' house was where closet floor joists cantilevered over the garage floor, and it was sealed by rigid foam. In Bowie’s house, areas around basement rim joists were leaky, so they used spray foam to seal them. They also added more insulation in the attic and sealed other leaks too. Afterward, the temperature was better regulated and it felt better to be in.

Before making any big changes, you need to identify problem areas. Bowie recommends getting an energy audit done through Dominion Energy Ohio’s Energy Star program to find any leaks. “It will actually make your home more comfortable to live in to have it better insulated and air sealed,” she says. “You’ll have better indoor air quality.” To perform the audit, workers set up a blower door. “They put [one] on your front door that has a fan in it,” she says. “It depressurizes the house, which allows them to measure how leaky the house is,

“You don’t have as many cold drafts,” she says.

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