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2torial #0562:
Learn2 Weatherize Your Home
Climatize your home, not the neighborhood
Did you know it's possible to save money, help
the environment and increase your comfort
level--all at the same time? By properly
weatherizing your home, you'll create a more
temperate living space by cutting down on drafts
even as you slash energy use anywhere between 10
and 50 percent. That means significantly lower
utility bills and reduced impact on the
environment.
Of course, weatherization requires time and
often a little money. But you don't necessarily
have to mount storm windows or wrap your entire
home in plastic. In fact, you can make a great deal
of headway with a caulking gun and a few yards of
weather stripping. We'll show you how to assess the
current state of your home and take steps to
improve its climate--and your comfort.
 Find leaks
Before you start the weatherization process, you
need to assess your home's needs. Many local
utility companies will come to your home and,
either for free or for a nominal fee, conduct a
thorough assessment of your home's insulation
system. Some companies will even take an infrared
photo on a cold winter's night, which will reveal
exactly where your home is hemorrhaging heat.
Likewise, they'll tell you how the summer heat is
penetrating the cool refuge that is your home. If
your energy utility does provide this service, take
advantage of it.
In the meantime, learn the potential trouble
spots for yourself. Some are obvious, but some you
might never have considered. Here is a list, in
order of importance:
1. Floors, ceilings and walls: Even a
wall that looks airtight could be an energy sink.
Do the touch test: walls, floors and ceilings that
feel significantly colder or hotter than room
temperature may need attention.
2. Ducts: Sometimes heating vents
actually suck warmth out of a room, while cooling
vents blow in hot air during summer. If you have a
central heating and/or cooling system, check all
ducts and registers to ensure they are working for
you, not against you.
3. Fireplaces: When your fireplace is not
in use, be sure the flue is closed, summer and
winter alike.
4. Plumbing: Sometimes pipes enter a
house above ground. Walk around the perimeter of
your house to see where pipes may penetrate outside
walls. Perform the touch test in order to detect
gaps between pipes and the wall around them. Note:
Be careful to avoid very hot pipes or ducts.
5. Doors: Gaps between a door and its
frame are one of the biggest heat-loss offenders,
and one of the easiest problems to fix.
6. Windows: Loose caulking and cracked
panes are simple to repair and can make significant
improvements. If the glass is cold to the touch in
winter, or hot in the summer, you
might want to consider a more insulated window
system.
7. Wall fans: When built-in fans are
installed (usually in kitchens and bathrooms),
contractors often leave invisible gaps between the
fan and the wall itself. Again, do the touch test
around the edges of the fan to determine if a little
caulking might be in order.
Now that you know where problems may lie, we'll
present some potential solutions.
 Fine-tune your furnace and
air-conditioning system
Many people treat their furnaces and air
conditioners like workhorses, neglecting them until
they stop working altogether. Such treatment may be
OK for plumbing and electrical systems, but heating
and cooling systems need routine maintenance, just
like a car.
At the very least, you need to replace the air
filters in your air conditioners and furnace at the
beginning of each season. Otherwise, warm or cool
air will never make it past clogged filters. If you
live in an extremely cold climate, you should also
hire a professional to give your furnace an annual
tune-up (in milder climates, biannual tune-ups may
suffice). Air conditioners should get a tune-up
every three years. The cost of the tune-up should
easily pay for itself in the form of increased
energy efficiency.
And don't stop at the furnace or air conditioner
itself. Your system also includes the ducts and
vents that actually deliver warm or cool air where you want
it. Beginning with your furnace or central air
conditioner, trace the vents that lead to the
various
parts of your house (ducts usually hug the
basement ceiling). Without actually touching the
vents--which can be quite hot--feel for air leaks
(see Step 3
to find out how to seal them).
Next, identify all the heating and cooling vents
in your house and make sure none are blocked by
carpets, furniture or excessive dust. You might be
spending big bucks heating or cooling the back of
your Lazy Boy.
 Take care of the simple stuff
Before going to great effort and expense, spend
an afternoon on do-it yourself tasks. You don't
have to be particularly handy to make a big dent in
your heat-loss problem.
- Replace the filter in your furnace. This is
the single simplest, most effective thing you
can do to prevent heat loss. Most furnace
filters are designed for easy removal and
replacement. Look for a slot several inches wide
and several feet high. The old filter should
come out easily, and the new one should slide
right in.
- Caulk loose windowpanes, as well as any
other cracks where outside air is entering your
house, for example around wall fans and plumbing
outlets (See Step 1
to find out where to look).
- Attach weather-stripping to the edges of
windows and outside doors where outside air
enters your house.
- Shut off rooms that aren't in use, and close
heating and cooling vents. (Caution: Do not
close off too many vents. You could overwork the
furnace by forcing air through too few vents.)
- Hang heavy drapes over windows that are
particularly subject to heat loss. It's an
ancient practice, but it works surprisingly
well.
- Consider plastic heat barriers for windows.
They look like the clear plastic that you might
wrap a sandwich in, yet they have high
insulation value because they create a pocket of
dead air between themselves and the window. You
simply tack or glue them up, then use a hair
dryer to both remove wrinkles and shrink
the plastic so that it forms a seal over the
window frame. Martha Stewart might not approve
of the aesthetics, but it's a cheap alternative
to storm windows.
- Seal leaks in heating ducts with a special
latex-based sealing compound available at most
hardware stores. You just have to goop it on.
(See Step 1 to find the
ducts themselves)
 Insulate the attic
We all know heat rises, but not everyone thinks
to insulate the attic. An unfinished attic can be a
heat trap during summer, and it can account for a
great percentage of a home's heat loss during
winter-yet it's the easiest part of the house to
insulate. If you're committed to a more
energy-efficient home, and enjoy working with your
hands, consider doing the job yourself.
Many kinds of insulation are available to the
amateur, including batts, rolls, loose-fill and
rigid foam boards. Batts and rolls, which are
generally sufficient for an attic, are the easiest
to use and require little more than a staple gun, a
sharp cutting knife and rubber gloves. Batts are
made of thick, spongy fiberglass backed with a
material that looks like aluminum foil. They're
purchased in rolls between one and two feet wide
and four feet long. Batts are easy to nail to the
wooden frame of an attic's ceiling and walls, and
can also be cut to fit between joists if necessary.
Rolls, which look very much like thick, insulated
blankets, require almost no effort at all: you
simply roll them out across the attic floor.
Depending on size, you can probably insulate
your attic in a single afternoon. Just follow these
simple steps:
1. Measure your attic's floor, walls and
ceiling, as well as the distance between joists.
2. Go to a good hardware store and ask
how powerful insulation should be in your region.
3. Buy the necessary materials and
equipment, and be sure to ask your salesman for any
last-minute advice on installation (always a good
idea).
4. Go home and install the insulation.
This may sound like a tall task, but it's not. Batt
insulation only needs to be stapled in place,
either to a plat wall or between joists. As long as
you have a stepladder and perhaps a friend to help
you unroll the batts and hold them in place, you
should have no problem at all. Rolls need only be
spread out across the entire extent of an
uninsulated floor.
 Consider professional
weatherization
If you live in a particularly extreme climate,
or your house hasn't undergone serious insulation
efforts in more than 20 years, you may want to
consider taking actions that require a professional
contractor. These might include installing storm
windows, applying insulation to outside walls, or
blowing insulation into hard-to-reach places such
as crawl spaces.
If you do decide to take such steps, shop around
first. Not all contractors are equally skilled, and
prices can vary widely. Many people spend more on
professional weatherization than they'll ever save
on energy bills. So before you settle on a
contractor, you should consider the following:
- Focus on local companies. Both quality and
price tend to be better.
- Consult your local Better Business Bureau
(BBB) to find out about a company's reliability.
Look up the office in your local white pages, or
consult the BBB's Web site at
www.bbb.org.
- Make sure your contractor is licensed and
insured.
- Get three detailed bids in writing so you
know exactly how much you're paying, and what
you're paying for.
- Check references.
Most importantly, see what steps you yourself
can take. You may find you can cut your energy
bills down to size without calling in professional
help. In fact, a small investment in time and money
can have a handsome pay-off over the long term. And
the polar ice caps will thank you.
-end-
Learn More!
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