Caulking makes your home waterproof and sealed to the outside elements. Unfortunately, not enough people realize the major role that caulking plays in protecting their home. Some people do not use any caulking, while others often neglect to caulk their home or forget to maintain it properly.
Neglecting to seal your caulking joints will result in additional costs to repair all affected components. This neglect also has a very negative effect on your home’s value, whether it is located in the city of Montreal or on the south shore of Montreal.
This is why caulking your windows and doors should always be kept in mind.
High electric bills – Air infiltration.
Any opening, cracks or holes in an old caulking joint around the windows or front door will cause heat loss from your home or business. According to the Hydro Quebec website, air leaks can represent 25% of your home’s heat loss.
In most residential structures, accumulated holes in an average home’s envelope can even reach the size of a basketball! These openings then generate a considerable increase in the cost of heating or cooling your home. A properly sealed condo, home or business will have lower electric bills and become an energy-efficient property.
Humidity – Water infiltration
Gaps and cracks around the windows, doors, sidings, balconies, roof and exterior walls allow free water intrusion passage. Water infiltration is perhaps second to fire in its potential for major destruction to a structure.
Water infiltration can cause damage to the interior and exterior parts of a building and its contents, materials, and the health of its tenants.
Effect on Health
The presence of humidity contributes to the harmful appearance of mould and fungi. Aside from the fact that mould eats away at materials, its toxicity can cause serious health problems in children, the elderly and all individuals with medical concerns, such as asthma.
Effect on materials
Moisture invades everything it encounters, horizontally, vertically and in all directions. Under its action:
- Coatings deteriorate and fall off.
- Panelling, floors and parquet rots.
- The paint crumbles and peels off.
- Paper soaks and decomposes, textiles deteriorate.
- Furniture and all the objects we collect in our apartments, homes, and office are exposed to more or less rapid but inevitable deterioration.
- Deterioration of walls, ceiling.
- Â Finally, the infiltration of water behind the masonry can also cause the brick to swell or, even worse, burst when the water freezes. In fact, the expansion of the ice exerts pressure behind the masonry, causing damage.
Water infiltration is not always apparent.
It may be a few months or even years for water seepage to be apparent. Since joints and cracks are small, water may very slowly seep through a tiny gap in your window frame or wall over a long period of time. Without regular inspections, your building materials may slowly and unnoticeably start to deteriorate, and mould may grow uninterrupted behind a wall, in your attic or under your wood floor.
Caulking condo buildings.
Water infiltrations can easily be ignored, particularly in condo buildings due to their height, as the sealant joints are harder to notice from the ground level. Higher buildings go through more expansion and contraction and therefore require more caulking maintenance. The co-owners’ responsibility is to schedule inspections every few years to ensure that the building’s joints are properly sealed and waterproof.
Mice in the house, insects in the house.
Openings, cracks or holes in your home’s envelope can allow mice, rodents and insects to enter your building. Many exterminators will recommend you to call a caulking company to inspect and seal the envelope of your building as part of the removal process of rodents and insects.
Your home value.
If you ask a realtor what causes homes for sale to fail a home inspection, he or she will tell you that Caulking is one of the main reasons. Homeowners may overlook flawed sealant joints, but home inspectors will not.
Keep in mind that new caulk enhances the appearance of your building if done by a professional caulker. At Calfeutrage Apex inc, we match the caulking colours to the doors and window frames, sidings and walls, and apply flawless caulking joints.
To find out how to caulk doors and windows, click here.
CONCLUSION
If your caulking is old, cracked or deteriorating, don’t wait any longer: it’s time to redo your caulking to prevent permanent damage to your building. Inspecting the joints around doors, windows, siding, and roof is quick and easy.
South Shore Caulking, Apex Caulking!
Many people think that grabbing a caulking gun and applying perfect sealants is a simple task that they can easily do themselves. The truth is that caulking is simple in theory, but is actually a complex task for the real job.
Apex Caulking is a caulking expert. We caulk doors, windows, expansion joints, roofs, balconies, interior and exterior structures. We specialize in caulking commercial, residential and industrial buildings, as well as condominium buildings.