Energy Audit: The Life of a Duct Sealer

Jake at Work

The life of a duct sealer, while inglorious, is not without a bit of adventure. Today for example, we shimmied into a crawlspace full of those brown and yellow newts. I’m not sure where they came from; none of the other houses in this particular park had a newt infestation.

“We got salamanders!” my supervisor yells out from the dark.

Now, I’ve always gotten along pretty well with amphibians. My boss, however, does not.

“Ahhhhhh man!” He groans from somewhere in front of me.

“Tuck your pantlegs in, man. “

“What? Why?”

“Just trust me. Their attracted to warmth or something……”

One Cute Newt

So here we are, covered with sticky newts when we finally manage to locate the furnace connection we’re trying to seal up.

Unfortunately, the insulation surrounding the connection has been extra double wrapped in fiber batts (the cheap kind, too,) and then encased in black butyle tape. This stuff is on there like a solid cast.

I grab the duct in a big, itchy bear hug and Adam goes to work sawing through the various layers of tape with his knife. About 20 itchy, itchy minutes later, my hair and face covered in a fine layer of fiber glass, the duct connection finally separates.

And it’s already sealed!

Thanks for stopping by Detect Energy, this is Jake Hutchins reporting, stop by again for another true, duct sealing experience.