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Serving Durango, CO and surrounding areas. (970) 844-8919
Hidden gaps in your home's shell drain your heat every winter and let wildfire smoke in every summer. We find and seal them with before-and-after testing so you can see the difference.
Air sealing in Durango means finding and closing the gaps, cracks, and penetrations in your home where outside air sneaks in and your heated air leaks out, most single-family homes are completed in one to two days, and the work starts paying back immediately in the first heating season.
Most air leaks are not where you would expect them. The biggest culprits are typically the attic floor, the rim joists where your floor meets the foundation, spaces around recessed lights, and gaps where pipes and wires pass through ceilings and walls. In Durango, where heating season runs from October through April, every one of those gaps is costing you real money every month. Many homeowners in older Durango neighborhoods have never had their homes air sealed at all.
Air sealing is also the service that makes your insulation work harder. Insulation slows heat flow, but it does not stop moving air. Combining air sealing with basement insulation or attic air sealing addresses both heat conduction and air movement at the same time, which is when you really start to see the difference in your heating bill.
If your gas or electric bill has crept up over the past few winters but your habits have not changed, air leakage is one of the most common culprits. In Durango's long heating season, even moderate leakage adds up to hundreds of dollars a year. A home that was reasonably efficient ten years ago may have developed new gaps as materials shifted with the region's extreme temperature swings.
Hold your hand near an electrical outlet on an exterior wall on a cold day. If you feel a faint chill, outside air is moving through the wall cavity into your living space. The same test works near baseboards, around recessed lights, and at the top of interior walls where they meet the ceiling - all common leak points in older Durango homes.
This is a Durango-specific signal many homeowners have noticed in recent summers. If wildfire smoke finds its way indoors despite closed windows and doors, your home has enough air leakage that outdoor air is entering through gaps in the building shell. Air sealing is the most direct fix for this problem.
Attic air leakage is one of the biggest energy problems in older homes, and it shows up as temperature inconsistency between floors. If your upstairs bedrooms are noticeably colder in winter or hotter in summer than the rest of the house, warm or cool air is likely escaping through gaps in the attic floor.
A professional air sealing job starts with a blower door test. We mount a large fan in your front doorway, pull air out of the house, and use a thermal camera and smoke pencil to find exactly where outside air rushes in. Without this test, a contractor is essentially guessing. With it, we can prioritize the areas that will deliver the most savings and give you a before-and-after measurement that proves the work made a real difference. We also partner this service with attic air sealing for homes where the top of the thermal envelope needs focused attention, since the attic floor is almost always the single largest source of air leakage in older homes.
After the assessment, the crew works through your attic, basement, and crawl space applying foam and caulk to seal gaps around pipes, wires, joists, and framing. Most materials cure within an hour, so there is no extended drying period that prevents you from using your home. We also pair air sealing with basement insulation when the rim joist and foundation walls need both sealing and insulation at the same time, which is common in Durango's older homes.
Best suited for any homeowner who wants to know objectively how leaky their home is before spending money on improvements.
Best suited for homes where the biggest leaks are at the top of the building - around recessed lights, plumbing penetrations, and top plates.
Best suited for homes with unfinished basements or crawl spaces where cold air enters at the foundation level.
Best suited for older Durango homes that have never been professionally sealed and have significant leakage across multiple areas.
Durango's heating season runs from roughly October through April - six months of your furnace or boiler working hard to keep pace with temperatures that regularly fall into the single digits overnight. Every gap in your home's shell is costing you money across that entire stretch. Air sealing delivers a faster payback here than it would in a milder climate, simply because the heating load is so much higher. The Four Corners region also has dramatic day-to-night temperature swings - sometimes 40 degrees in a single day - which cause wood framing and caulk to expand and contract repeatedly, reopening gaps that were sealed years ago. Homes that were sealed five to seven years back are worth reassessing. The EPA notes that air sealing also improves indoor air quality by reducing the amount of outdoor pollutants, dust, and smoke that drift indoors through gaps in the building shell.
Beyond energy costs, Durango's recurring wildfire smoke events have made a well-sealed home a health asset, not just a comfort one. Homeowners who have had their homes professionally air sealed report noticeably better indoor air quality during heavy smoke days. We serve the whole service area, including Ignacio and Bondad, where older housing stock and the same mountain climate create the same conditions driving the need for professional air sealing.
We ask a few basic questions - your home's age, square footage, and what prompted the call. We reply within one business day and can typically schedule an assessment within a week or two, though demand picks up in early fall.
A technician visits and runs a blower door test - this mounts a fan in your doorway, depressurizes the house, and uses tools to locate exactly where air rushes in. The visit takes one to two hours and produces a clear, plain-language summary of what was found.
We walk you through what we recommend sealing, why, and the total cost before any work begins. We also review current LPEA rebates and federal tax credits that may apply to your project so you understand what you can recover.
The crew seals gaps in the attic, basement, and crawl space. After the work is done, we run the blower door test a second time and share the before-and-after numbers with you - concrete proof the leaks were actually closed.
Free blower door assessment. Before-and-after testing included. No pressure.
(970) 844-8919We run a blower door test before the work starts and again after it is done. You leave with a real number showing how much the leakage rate dropped - not just a contractor's word that the job was thorough. Most contractors skip the second test. We do not.
La Plata Electric Association serves much of the Durango area and has offered rebates for residential air sealing work. We know the current requirements, which contractors qualify, and how to sequence the project to capture available savings. We handle the paperwork explanation so you are not left figuring it out alone.
Durango's San Juan Mountain region has seen increasing wildfire activity, and smoke events during summer and early fall are now a regular part of life here. We focus on the penetrations - attic, basement, rim joists - that let the most outdoor air in, because that is where smoke infiltration is worst.
The Four Corners region's low humidity and dramatic temperature swings create different sealing challenges than wetter climates. We choose foam and caulk products suited to the expansion and contraction that Durango's climate imposes on building materials, because the wrong product will reopen within a few winters.
Air sealing is one of the few home improvements where you can measure the result the same day the work is done. We take that accountability seriously, and it is why Durango homeowners call us when they want to know the job was actually done right - not just assumed. The Building Performance Institute sets nationally recognized standards for blower door testing and home energy performance that we follow on every job.
Pair air sealing with insulation at the rim joist and foundation walls for a complete lower-envelope solution.
Learn MoreTarget the single largest source of air leakage in most Durango homes with focused attic-level sealing work.
Learn MoreLPEA rebates and federal tax credits may be available this season - act now before eligibility rules change.