Q - Now that we have had a couple of cool, windy days I am noticing an uncomfortable draft in my house. What should I do?
A - Did you know that leaks through small cracks around your
windows and doors are responsible for 30-40% of the heat that leaks out of your
house?
It's time to give your house that
once over for cracks and areas where the cooler air will seep in and more
importantly, your heat will leak out.
Begin outside by looking at
places where two different building materials meet and around every opening in
your siding i.e. around water spigots, dryer vents, and places where telephone
and cable tv cables enter the house.
Fill all openings and cracks with
caulk or expanding insulating foam.
Once inside your home, look at
the following:
-
Check around electrical outlets. You can get inexpensive foam gaskets to seal
every outlet. Make sure your pull down
attic stairs are sealed as well
-
Measure the temperature in different parts of
the house. Differences of a couple of
degrees or more indicate that the room is poorly sealed or that air movement
inside the house is poor.
If some rooms
are cooler than others, your favorite HVAC company can help you zone your house
properly to even out the air flow.
-
It's time to weather strip windows, doors, and garage
doors. It's simple and inexpensive.
-
Get your caulk gun back out and seal between
baseboards and floors. Remove the base
molding and fill in the gap between baseboards and floor. This will not only stop air leaks, but will
help seal out insects as well.
One last thing to check - if you
have windows in unused parts of the house, think about sealing them with a
shrink wrap. Once installed, shrink wrap
is virtually invisible and easy to remove.
The best part of all of this work
is that when it gets warm out again, all of these steps will help keep your
cool air in (and insects out).