Infrared: seeing black

This is a little teaser of the energy audit. 

I got to play with the thermal camera for a bit. I think he wanted to distract me while he prepped for the pressure test. Hey, I’m a sucker for gadgets so it was worth it. Knowing that bedroom 4 (aka the pink room) has some challenges, I decided to check it out for myself. The top plates and foot plates weren’t sealed at all. Does that surprise me? Absolutely not. It wasn’t required back then so why would they do such a thing?

I also took readings in the master bedroom which was about 70F with cold spots on the floor at 60F. The pink room is several degrees colder anyhow but all that purple and black is just not good. We can’t do anything about the corners and likely not the top plates either unless we seal the soffits. One thing that we can do is caulk the bottom plates when we rip out the carpet. It will help block the air flow but not stop it at the source.

Forgive the poor quality and lack of cropping and whatnot. I was taking photos with my phone while gunning the walls. I’m not in the mood to beautify these pictures. Don’t worry, I convinced the hubby that we really need our own thermal camera so I’ll have nicer images. They are surpringly not that expensive and it should arrive in a few days. Woot! I also have some really cool ideas for science fair projects so it’s an educational tool as well. In my book, it’s a win-win.

Spray foam insulation later this week!