With the winter months approaching, it’s even more important to make sure your home is prepared for the winter months. More than just stocking up on fuel for the furnace or packing up the summer clothes, checking for and sealing drafts and gaps in your home is essential to preparing your home for the winter.

Properly sealing your doors and windows can help with more than keeping the cold out and the warmth in. It can also prevent insects and rodents that may try to make their way into your home from taking up residence with you. It’s time to take prepping your house this fall with silicone seriously and learn why silicone can help your winter preparedness.

Why Sealing Gaps in Your Home is Important

There are plenty of places in your home where gaps and drafts can form over the years. Doors and windows are meant to open easily but often hide drafts and cracks that can cause headaches. Sealing gaps in your home can help prevent the cold and winter weather from wreaking havoc and creating even more issues in the future. Cycling between hot and cold temperatures can often create cracks in heavily used areas like windows and door frames, so correctly applying silicone sealant can help prepare your home to combat the winter weather ahead.

Not only does sealing gaps help you to keep the warmth in, but keeping pests out as well. In northern hemisphere winters, most insects and rodents can’t survive outside and will look for warm places to make their home for the winter. Many insect species will hibernate for the winter once they find a warm space in your home, causing even more issues with bugs and pests when winter is over. Other pests like rats and moles will also try to get into the house through these cracks and gaps, causing further damage once inside.

Where to Check for Drafts in Your Home

Once you’ve identified the need to seal your home for the winter, knowing the proper places to check for your DIY sealing project is essential. Any spots that open and connect to the outside, like windows and doors, should be a priority. Often, gaps can form underneath and around your doors and windows that may not be noticeable at first glance. These gaps can be a prime entry point for pests looking to get inside your home, as well as letting the cold air in and dropping your indoor temperature. Silicone sealants like the Select Neutral Core 100% RTV sealant can be an excellent option for sealing around masonry in your home, like concrete, brick, and limestone, without damaging the surface.

Which Types of Silicone Sealants Are Best?

When choosing silicone sealants for your home, there are many options. Silicone sealants come in various forms for use within different applications around your home, from sealing masonry to spray cans for easy application. Food grade silicone sealants like our Food Grade 100% RTV Silicone Sealant are a popular choice for kitchens and dining rooms, being an option that is safe for contact with food and can withstand high temperatures.

Mildew-resistant sealants also exist, offering a choice for bathrooms and kitchens that won’t attract mildew in high-moisture environments. Kitchen & Bath Mildew Resistant RTV Silicone Sealant offers mold-resistant properties for indoor use and outdoor applications like patios and decks. Mildew-resistant silicones are also resistant to outdoor wet conditions, safely bonding surfaces against rain, snow, and hail.

How Drafts Can Affect Your Home’s Energy Efficiency

For residential houses, drafts can have severe effects beyond the cold and pests. Drafts can also have a surprising impact on your energy efficiency, with cracks and gaps often creating less efficient homes. Holes and crevices around your windows and doors will cause the warm air produced by your furnace or wood stove to seep out, causing your heating system to work harder to warm your inside area. This reality can significantly impact homes with central heating, with furnaces using more electricity to warm up the temperature inside your home.

Sealing drafts can help to keep that warm air inside so your furnaces don’t need to work as hard. More efficient heating and energy use will help to see a reduction in your monthly heating bill, as well as warming things up in your home. Sealants like the Hi-Temp Red & Blue 100% RTV silicone sealant can also help your system run more efficiently by adequately sealing gaskets and vents, allowing your furnace to transfer heat more efficiently with fewer leaks.

Sealing Drafts to Keep Dangerous Pests Out

No family wants to find out they have mice or moles living inside the walls of their home, but these pests can pose a serious issue as well. For those with health problems and medical conditions, pests in the home can bring diseases that can be left inside your home. Rodents and insects are some of the biggest carriers of sicknesses that can majorly impact your and your family's health, so keeping these dangers out of the house is paramount. Sealing gaps can cut off entry points for insects and rodents, keeping their contaminants out and your home safe.

Prepping Your Home This Fall With Silicone Depot

Silicone sealants are an effective way of sealing gaps and drafts in your home, and Silicone Depot is a trusted supplier with a wide range of sealants available. Whether you are looking to seal the foundations of your home or bond surfaces together to keep pests and cold weather away, Silicone Depot has a selection for every application. From concrete sealing like the Concrete Elite Expansion Joint Sealant to sealants safe for kitchens and bathrooms, let Silicone Depot provide you with the perfect sealant for the job. Check out our full selection of silicone sealants to protect your home this Fall!