Here it is: a long list of potential problems with your house. Just what you wanted to read, right?

Now, before you go running away, hear us out. 

Many houses—especially those built before 1990—experience home discomfort issues. In the winter, the house is hard to heat, and the floors are cold to the touch. In summer, rooms are hot and stuffy. All year long, energy bills are through the roof. Sound familiar?

Most often, people think that getting new windows and doors, or new siding will solve the problem. While these upgrades may certainly help, they won’t solve the root problems behind uneven temperatures. 

This list goes beyond doors and windows to look at the problems hiding beneath the surface of many older homes. These are the problems we help homeowners solve every day at Sealed. If you are living in a house so hot and cold it feels feverish, our home comfort specialists would be more than happy to help you find the weak points in your home.

Attics

Believe it or not, many of the weak points causing uneven temperatures can be found in the oft-forgotten attics.

1. Wall frames

The spot where your attic floor and wall frames meet is a major source of air leaks. Typically hollow and uninsulated, the frames are a channel for a lot of unwanted airflow into the attic. They’re the number one weak spot in your attic floor.

2. Attic hatch

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3. Recessed lighting fixtures

They may be pretty to look at, but recessed lighting fixtures can wreak havoc on your home’s temperature. Each fixture puts an open hole in your ceiling, allowing heat to escape into your attic in the winter and cool air to escape in the summer.

4. Plumbing chases and electrical wiring

Every hole in your house makes space for unwanted airlow. So all the little holes that get created for plumbing fixtures and electrical wiring passthroughs can add up to create invisible little wind tunnels in the house.

5. Attic floor

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6. Roof slopes

The roof may be great at keeping out snow and rain, but it needs help creating temperature separation from the outside. Without proper insulation, your roof lets in lots of heat during the hot summer months. In winter, an uninsulated roof can let heat out of your house too fast, potentially leading to the (very costly) problem of ice dams.

7. Side attics

Especially problematic in a Cape Cod style house, this mysterious little room has a big impact on many homes’ comfort. It lets in cold air in winter, and hot air in summer. It may also provide shelter for squirrels and raccoons.

8. Foundation / basement

Cold air gets sucked in at the foundation, causing drafty rooms and cold floors in the winter. Without proper air sealing, your basement is damp and moldy. 

9. Crawl space

Think of your crawl space like a big box of cold air. It makes the floors and rooms above icy cold in winter, and may also contribute to frozen pipes and dust/mold problems.

10. Overhang

With nothing beneath it, your overhang acts like a big vacuum sucking the air outside up and into the house. The result? Rooms that feel drafty and cold in winter, and hot in summer.

11. Walls 

Walls are meant to keep the elements outside. If your walls feel cold to the touch in winter, they’re not doing their job. Adding insulation can help your walls perform to a much higher level.

12. Garage

Your car may be protected from the elements, but nothing else is. Any room above or next to the garage is freezing in winter, and a furnace in the summer.

13. Heating and hot water systems

If your hot water heater is more than ten years old, it’s due for a breakdown. And if you have oil heat, your basement is also home to a noisy, inefficient heating source.

14. Doors and windows

Getting new doors and windows can definitely help stop unwanted airflow in your house. Just bear in mind that windows are expensive (getting the most energy-efficient models new can cost upwards of $20,000) and, as you can see from the list above, they won’t help address many of the other problem areas typical in houses.