Aerosol Sealing in New Construction

Lead Performer: Center for Energy and Environment – Minneapolis, MN
Partners:
-- UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center – Davis, CA
-- Building Knowledge – Minneapolis, MN
-- University of Minnesota Cold Climate Housing Program – Minneapolis, MN
DOE Total Funding: $535,000
Cost Share: $134,000
Project Term: August 1, 2016 – July 31, 2019
Funding Opportunity: 2016 Building America Industry Partnerships for High Performance Housing Innovation

Project Objective

Whole-house envelope air-sealing minimizes the uncontrolled flow of heat, air, and moisture between indoors and outdoors, and is essential to the energy efficiency, comfort, and indoor air quality of residential buildings. The Center for Energy and Environment and partners will field-test and optimize an innovative new method for whole-house air-sealing using aerosol sealant. This aerosol sealant method is already a proven duct sealing solution, and can reduce time and labor costs by simultaneously measuring, locating, and sealing leaks. The Center for Energy and Environment and builder partners will perform iterative field tests to identify the optimal integration of this aerosol-based air-sealing method into production home building practices to achieve a lower installation cost than typical air-sealing.

Project Impact

The Center for Energy and Environment and partners will study the performance of this aerosol sealing method in 20 homes. If integrated into the production building process, this method will radically improve quality assurance of envelope sealing and significantly reduce labor costs compared to traditional air-sealing approaches.

Contacts

DOE Technology Manager: Eric Werling
Principal Investigator: David Bohac, Center for Energy and Environment

Related Publications

Apartment Compartmentalization With an Aerosol-Based Sealing Process (March 2015)