Help Me Weatherize!

[imamomx2]

Hey Mamas!

We live in Michigan, and it's cold outside!  We have been in our home one winter, and it surprised me how much we spent on heat!  We have hot water heat with baseboards.  I know that we have definitely lost some of our seal on our skylights, so we'll be putting plastic on those until we can replace it altogether.

I know about caulking and putting plastic on windows.  Any other ideas?  We did have someone come and he said our house was fairly efficient.  However, I feel drafts all of the time!

Some thoughts on where the heat could be leaking (anyone with more expertise, please pipe up!):

1) We have an unfinished basement that we cannot seal off, so I know we must be losing heat this way.  Not much we can do about that this winter.

2) recessed lights.  Someone told me that we could lose heat this way?

3) Our dryer vent - for some reason crazy cold air is coming in through here, but we're not sure how to fix it.

Any other ideas on weatherizing?  I like a warm house, but I don't like paying a ridiculous amount to get it!

Thanks!

[RainbowTurtle]

I hear you about the cold. 

1. Basement: can you hang a curtain or heavy blanket in the staircase leading to your basement?  You can use one of those tension rods so you don't have to drill any holes.  Make sure it's nice and tight though so it doesn't fall on you if you move the curtain aside!

2. Recessed lights: are they in the top storey of your house?  If they're installed into your attic space, it's possible that you lose some heat since the warm inside air goes up through them into your attic.  The box that's in your ceiling (into your attic) should be sealed to prevent direct contact with your attic insulation.  The lights are labelled IC (I think, it's been a few years since I installed mine) for Insulation Contact.  The seal also prevents warm air from inside your home causing condensation in the attic space during the winter.

3. Dryer vent: check the flap outside to make sure it's not been wedged open by lint, or dented so it doesn't form a proper seal.  I think they sell boxes to insulate the flaps further, not too sure about that (but it's not a free solution).  You'd also have to be careful if you have a gas dryer as I think those boxes are plastic.

HTHs!

[umarider]

Read the book "Insulate and Weatherize".  The author's last name is Harley.  It gives a great deal of information on where the problems might be and how to address them.  A home efficiency expert recommended the book to me. 

The first place you'd want to start is with sealing all of the air leaks going into your attic/roof area.  Put a "hat" on your house.  Then locate any and all penetration points between your unheated basement and the rest of your house (plumbing pipes, electrical, etc.) and use spray foam to seal them.  Weatherstrip your doors, including the one going to the basement.  Do you have insulation in the ceiling of your basement?  If you can afford it, getting a home energy/efficiency audit is very worthwhile.  If you're low income, many utility companies offer free or low-cost audits.

Again, check out the above book.  I got a copy from the library, so it didn't cost anything to get the information.  Also, there is a great website I found that has lots of resources  http://www.southface.org/learning-center/library/green-home-building-resources  Hope this helps!

[nd_deadhead]

Heat rises, so you aren't going to lose a lot of heat from the living area to the basement. But hanging a blanket (or even a sheet) could help change airflows.

In addition to plastic on the windows, check your outlets and switch plates on outside walls. Some are not insulated at all, and make a direct path from the inside of the wall to the outside. You can get foam gaskets like these: http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=outlet+gasket&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=1420826937&ref=pd_sl_dtt4oycxq_b 

Use your windows effectively. Close curtains as soon as the sun starts to set, to keep warm air in, and open curtains to let the warm sun in as much as possible. Blankets or towels can help keep drafty windows covered (in addition to plastic).

Do you have any ceiling fans? Reverse the direction of the motor (there's usually a little switch on the motor itself) so the air is moved from the ceiling to the floor, which circulates the warm air back into the room.

And don't forget to put on more clothes! Slippers or warm socks make a huge difference in how warm you feel. An extra layer - even a thin layer - can make you feel a lot warmer.

Good luck!

[umarider]

Yes, heat does rise, but as it rises up and presumably out of the air leak spaces in the attic, etc., it is replaced by air coming in from a lower source (the basement, leaky windows, etc.)  I know this because I have an uninsulated crawl space suffered from a lot of drafts.  When we had an energy audit and they did a blower door test, it wasn't my windows or my outlets that were the worst culprits... it was the places where things came up through the floor from the crawlspace like my plumbing and the ductwork.  The other day I followed the directions I was given and used one can of spray foam and some aluminum tape to seal the gaps and I was amazed at the difference it made!  Now I just have to get to sealing all the air leaks in the attic and the knee walls, but at least the downstairs of the house is much more comfortable.

[HeatherAtHome]

Originally Posted by umarider 

Yes, heat does rise, but as it rises up and presumably out of the air leak spaces in the attic, etc., it is replaced by air coming in from a lower source (the basement, leaky windows, etc.)  I know this because I have an uninsulated crawl space suffered from a lot of drafts.  When we had an energy audit and they did a blower door test, it wasn't my windows or my outlets that were the worst culprits... it was the places where things came up through the floor from the crawlspace like my plumbing and the ductwork.  The other day I followed the directions I was given and used one can of spray foam and some aluminum tape to seal the gaps and I was amazed at the difference it made!  Now I just have to get to sealing all the air leaks in the attic and the knee walls, but at least the downstairs of the house is much more comfortable.

We had a blower door test. Not to sound totally geeky but it was SO MUCH FUN! Can't wait until he comes back again. Dang, what were we at? 19.5 ach (air changes per hour?) it was a lot. Our guy said to use duct tape along the edges of our floors upstairs (like, behind baseboards) to cut down on drafts and to tape around the attic door. Talk about frugal fixes. Our biggest issues are sort of specific to our house: the fieldstone basement walls and the log walls on the main house. Both had sort of dried out and left gaps.  And the crappily built addition was a problem.