I’m writing this on December 22nd, the shortest day of the year. It’s also 48 degrees outside! We have all welcome the unusually warm first part of winter, but we still know what’s coming! I thought it may be useful to give some advice on winterizing your home. If you put off winterization this fall, it’s not too late. I wanted to suggest a few quick, cheap fixes that will give you the best bang for your buck.
The first step for winterizing your home is to eliminate drafts. A lot of this can be done for free, and can save you a surprising amount of money. Things to look for: gaps under and around doors or windows, exposed openings into uninsulated crawl spaces, obviously any open windows or doors. One common source of leaks is the areas around outlets. Wiring can sometimes be run into heated space from non-heated spaces, and the hole is a source of drafts. If you have a mobile home, you should make sure your skirting is in place and in good condition. When you find an opening, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to fill it. I prefer GreatStuff, a spray foam product that you can pick up at a hardware store for $5 or so. But in fact, rolled up newspaper or old socks will do the trick. For electrical outlets, really inexpensive foam pieces are available that go right behind the outlet cover. It’s a 2 minute job to unscrew the cover, put the foam on, screw the cover back on, move to the next outlet.
Once drafts are eliminated, the next most important thing is to make sure your ceiling is insulated. This can be costly, depending on the construction of your home. If you have an open, accessible attic, you can buy rolls of fiberglass insulation and lay it on the floor of the attic. If it has to go against the ceiling, be sure there is an airspace between the the top of the insulation and the bottom of the roof. That airspace is really important to prevent ice dams, which can destroy your roof. If your attic is not accessible, consider blown-in insulation. You can buy the materials and rent the machine at a hardware store, or hire a contractor who can do it for you. The machine blows material into the spaces, which settles and insulates. No matter which method you choose, take the time to do it right. In our region, the recommended R-Valuefor ceilings is 30 (that’s actually code for new construction). The R-Value represents how thick the insulation is, and how well it insulates. Think of it like a three season jacket vs. a ski coat.
The next step is to make sure your floor is insulated. This is especially important in crawl spaces, floors of mobile homes, or any floor that is suspended above a non-heated space. You can insulate with rolled fiberglass, or sometimes foam board is easier. Just attach it to the joists, and you’re done!
Notice one thing I didn’t mention was new windows. It’s not that I don’t think they’re a good idea (in fact, I am slowly replacing the windows in my house). It’s just that they’re a big investment, and the return, in my opinion, isn’t fast enough. That of course depends a bit on what you have in place now. If you have really old wood windows that leak, you’ll recover your investment much faster. In my house, I have a few windows that aren’t that old, but are located on a wall that gets hammered with a lot of wind. So for those windows, it’ll be a good investment.
I have used a product before which is really cheap, and improves leaky windows quite a lot. It’s a plastic that you attach to the window casing with double surface tape. You then blow a hair dryer over it, and the plastic stretches tight. A $10, 15 minute investment, which will save you hundreds of dollars. You can find this at any hardware store as well.
The last suggestions I have a simple quick things that cost no money at all. 1) keep your furnace filter clean or replace it monthly 2) Close your curtains at night or, in rooms you’re not using, all the time 3) throw rugs on the floor will make the floor feel more comfortable, and you’ll not need to keep the thermostat as high 4) Automatic setback thermostats cost as little as $30 and can save you hundreds each year. They turn the thermostat down when you’re at work, and back up just before you coming home. 5) consider throwing on a sweater and turning the thermostat down a few degrees. If you turn it down from 70 to 68, on a 30 degree day, that’s 5%. If you burn 300 gallons a month, you’ve just saved 15 gallons. At today’s prices, that’s $45-$60 PER MONTH.
Some of the steps I outlined above cost money. Many of them are completely free. ALL of them will put more money in your pocket. That’s a good thing!
