How to seal switchplates and electrical outlets

When my husband took the better part of a day to seal up all of the switchplates and electrical outlets in our home a year or so ago I thought he was nuts.

That can’t possibly make a difference, I said. How small are those holes, anyway?

Patiently my husband (a.k.a. a professional energy auditor) explained to me that while one unsealed electrical outlet might not make a difference…all of them together added up to a pretty good sized hole. A hole the size of a baseball.

If we had a hole this size in our house you’d want me to seal it up, wouldn’t you? he asked.

Uh, yeah. I would.

That little scenario aside, I want to tell you a really inexpensive (like under $25) way you can seal up a possibly baseball-sized hole (or maybe a golf ball, depending how many outlets and switchplates you have) in your house. It doesn’t even really take elbow grease. Just patience and a nice tube of caulk.

In the world of home performance and energy efficiency, we like to think of the living space of a home as being surrounded by a giant envelope. Anywhere this envelope is breached is a way for air (and therefore energy) to get in or out. Every single switchplate and electrical outlet is a breach of the envelope. Even though the actual leaks are probably small, they can add up to a big hole in your wall when put all together.

To seal up your switchplates and electrical outlets, buy inexpensive foam outlet and switch covers at the hardware store – enough for every outlet and switchplate in your home – and a couple of tubes of caulk. Remove the outlet and switchplace covers and run a thin bead of caulk where the box meets the drywall. Apply the foam cover on top and press the cover so it connects with the caulk. The foam cover by itself isn’t airtight; the foam cover and the caulk have completely sealed the outlet.

You can further seal the leaks by buying baby safety covers for the electrical outlets you don’t use to plug up the little holes that the outlet itself makes.

Or…if you don’t want to do this yourself, you can hire us to do it for you! Better yet, have an energy audit and see for yourself how leaky your outlets are. They probably won’t make the top of the list for the biggest bang for your time and money, but they’ll be on the list. I guarantee it!