If you own a heritage building, how much is air leakage costing you throughout the year? Don’t forget that air leakage also affects cooling just as much as heating.
Same, cool air coming out from your AC goes straight to the outside just as quickly in the summertime as the heat in the winter.
So how do we resolve this? Make the home more airtight! I know this is easier to say than doing it… especially if you are living in an older building.
They just didn’t have the equipment or the technology back then to seal a home properly. But first, we need to explore what a heritage building is.
How Is A Heritage Building Defined?
Heritage building is any structure of sufficient age that it retains some historical value within the city.
An heritage building doesn’t need to be 100 years old, but it should have some form of historical value. These buildings receive the “heritage” tag and the city protects them under city by-laws.
Some things to consider when looking at whether a building is (or should be) considered a heritage building:
- How old Is the building?
- Is it building architecturally significant?
- Are there any historical events that occurred at the property?
- Did someone with historical significance own the property?
- Does the building feature an innovative engineering component for its time?
If the building meets one or more of the above criteria a heritage society or city council will perform an assessment on a property and likely designated it an official heritage home.
Once a building is assessed, the heritage society typically prepares a report which goes before the city council and the building is typically adopted as a “heritage protected building”.
Owning Heritage Buildings
Owning a heritage building is a lot of work. It means that you are responsible for a piece of history. That responsibility comes with a lot of catches, including the fact that you are responsible for proper maintenance and upkeep of the building which can be extremely expensive! It also means that you cannot alter the traditional structure in any significant way.
Fortunately, having a heritage structure also means that you may be able to receive some tax breaks and can apply for grants to help with this. Many societies and charities offer grants and loans to help protect the city’s history.
Well-maintained and cherished buildings enhance the quality of life of their occupants, their neighbours, and the community at large. Anyone lucky enough to live or work in a historic building will already appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship of handmade building materials, generous living spaces, and the sense of continuity with the past that these buildings provide.
Keeping and repairing existing buildings reduces waste generation, conserves the energy embodied in the original building materials and construction, and so is in the wider interests of sustainability. Buildings that are properly cared for look well, enhance their neighbourhoods, and retain their economic value.
How Can You Save Money On a Heritage Building?
There is obviously no such thing as a maintenance-free building. All building materials decay to different extents due to sunlight, rain, snow and wind.
Whether historic or not, all buildings need regular maintenance and you need to check the health of the building on a regular a basis and fix any defects that arise.
If you leave any damage or problems, they will eventually become major issues and you will have to spend more money to get them fixed. Definitely not ideal!
Save On Heating In Your Heritage Building
You’ve probably hear the term: “throwing money out the window”. In heritage buildings this is unfortunately often the case as the money you would be paying to heat the building is actually just being expelled outside sometimes as double or triple the speed of a modern-built home.
The insulation of your home, of course plays a large part in keeping the heat from escaping, but air leakage is the biggest and quickest transport of heat from the interior spaces to the outside.
So can you prevent hot air from escaping? You can use our patented AeroBarrier technology.
How Can AeroBarrier Help?
AreoBarrier is a method of addressing air leakages in a building with the use of micro-sized sealant particles that find its way to the leaks in any building and seals them when air pressure is applied.
This technology does not require any person to manually identify and fix the leaks. Instead, it is an easy, automated, computer-driven process that yields precise real-time results.
The procedures uses a non-toxic, water-based formula that finds the pockets of air and seals them, whether they are visible or not.
Aerobarrier is the best method of sealing a building, especially when it comes to old heritage homes. With patented technology, the spray is released into a room via a computer, pressurizing the space.
The computer then distributes the sealant. You can easily see the results and can have complete control over the desired level of airtightness. At the end of the process, a final test is run to verify the results. AeroBarrier than provides a Certification of completion.
Contact us today if you have a heritage home and are tired of paying outrage heat bills.