Comments on: This Hole May Be the Biggest Air Leakage Site in Your Home

By: Jan

Jan — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 03:02:25 +0000

It's indeed important to
It's indeed important to close up all the holes the warm air can leak out from the house. However if for some reason it is not possible to seal all the leaks then it is possible to switch the heating. If you used convection heaters until now, then the draft will make it ineffective, but if a radiant heater is equipped like infrared heaters then it wont heat the air only the objects/people in front of the appliance, this way the escaping air wont be a problem anymore. However spot heaters are quite limited to heating the area they are used in...

By: Peter Brown

Peter Brown — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 03:44:38 +0000

A thorough job of fire
A thorough job of fire blocking will also result in fine air sealing. When I was a builder I first fashioned sheet metal around these tub drains, flared out far onto the subfloor with fire rated caulk between the sheetmetal and subfloor around the perimeter. Then I screwed Type X sheetrock on top of the sheet metal. By now my fire resistant materials are pretty close to the actual pipes and I completed the job using fire caulk to seal the type X gypsum to the pipes. This assebly is now airtight and resistant to flame spread.

By: Chris Brown

Chris Brown — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 23:35:11 +0000

Allison,

Allison,

Interesting dichotomy in the first photo. Someone had some EE concern as the service lines were wrapped with insulation, although not necessarily effectively. And yet, the hole escaped their scrutiny. Second photo: How exactly does one stay in that tub?

By: Debbie

Debbie — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:57:25 +0000
not having basements here, I
not having basements here, I'm not sure how this hole is addressed in areas with basements.

we do have houses on piers in my hot humid climates.

mostly existing homes.

new homes are mostly slab on grade..except high water areas (for hurricanes)

I like Joe's approach...you make a hole, you seal it. having the contractors seal envelope is one way to make the trades aware of more than just their job.

if we are ever going to make homes more efficient then trades people need to work together not against each other.

By: David

David — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:51:05 +0000
I do not believe there is
I do not believe there is such a thing as an "unconditioned basement". It is far too hard and costly to create a pressure/thermal seal at the living floor/basement ceiling than the basement walls, and basements are used far more often than homeowners may be willing to admit.

That said, the larger plumbing hole (which should be fairly close to the photos you've shown) is the plumbing stack going through the roof. MUCH more air flowing down from there and into/through any other plumbing access areas.

By: John Ring

John Ring — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:49:42 +0000
In NC, the residential
In NC, the residential building code prior to the adoption of the 1992 CABO made no mention of the need to cover these holes. The CABO specifically states that these openings must be sealed (E-2506 Air Leakage). Despite this, I still find houses that have this big hole in their building enclosure. Why?
I have yet to see or hear of a Plumbing Code Inspector that will tour the crawlspace as part of his final.

By: John Poole

John Poole — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:10:33 +0000
This is why it's so important
This is why it's so important to always keep one or two of those yellow rubber duckies in your tub. You never know what sort of critter might emerge from your drain hole. Better it go after one of your duckies, giving you a chance to jump out of the tub. :-)

By: Green Curmudgeon

Green Curmudgeon — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:31:42 +0000
You can't cut delicate little
You can't cut delicate little holes with a chainsaw! They have to use it somewhere. Give those poor plumbers a break.

By: Howard Katzman

Howard Katzman — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:43:03 +0000
That hole is that size so the
That hole is that size so the plumber can attach the waste and overflow from underneath the tub. The hole is rectangular because that is an easier opening to make than an oval or circular one. Perhaps we can challenge the plumbing industry to come up with a better design for the tub and waste/overflow assemblies that allow a smaller opening that is more easily air sealed, or a retrofit cover matched to the waste and overflow?

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:53:56 +0000
Debbie,

Debbie,

Regarding the garden tubs, I have the framer, or sometimes the plumber (I have a great one), put t-ply behind the tub before it goes in. Just 2' up from the baseplate, so insulation can be dropped in behind it.