Secrets That Help a Drafty House

Hubby got some clear caulk that he put around some of our leaky windows. We have a fireplace and put glass doors on it. That was VERY helpful!

We also zoned our house this year. It's right on the edge of needing 2 furnances and a/cs. Instead of doing that, we zoned it where the cool or hot air will be sent to a specific part of the house. So at night all the warm air will be upstairs.

Our windows are bad, but we can't replace them so the cault was great. You can pull it off anytime you're ready to open a window.

MB,

I think there are some "searches" you can do to check out tips on line as many people want to check for themselves.

A couple of things you can do are:

1) Hire a handyman or other professional to check the house out for you. You can explain the problem and have a list of questions before you have someone to come out to see who is best for the job. Then ensure you want a list of recommended "fixes" in order of priority. You can also ask them for a estimate to fix each job. Then present this to your husband. That might motivate him to get moving on this or YOU can hire someone to do it.

2) Go around your house and check window and door seams, both the top and bottom and the edges where the trim meets the walls. Perhaps these are "drafting" due to improper installation or simply not enough insulation around them.

3) Check your fireplaces. If you don't have them cleaned/checked regularly you could be losing a lot of heat from them. If the flue isn't closing properly, warm air will simply escape out of them.

4) Have someone check your insulation levels in your attic. Adding supplemental insulation will prevent "normal" heat loss through the roof.

5) Go around your house and check the vents. By simply opening/closing/adjusting the ones in the rooms you use the most (open) or least (closing) and slightly closing the ones upstairs, you may be able to save on your heating bill. That way the rooms you use the most are well heated, and vice versa. Also, since the heat rises, you don't have to have the vents fully open on the top floor.

6) Use your washer, dryer, dishwasher, oven, etc during the daytime. These all produce heat/steam that helps keep your house warm and moist in these cold winters. So get baking! Not only will your family enjoy a hot meal, but it will get some extra heat in the house (and the room your eating in!).

I hope these suggestions help. Whenever my husband tells me he think's I'm crazy, I go and get several (free) estimates for the work. I try to be very general to the repair men about the "problem" to get a good feel for what they think by the estimate they submit. This has really cut down on the arguing and fighting with my DH because now I have "proof" that work needs to be done, and $$$ estimates of what it will cost. Usually it takes a week for him to get over the "sticker shock." Then I approach the discussion again. I also tell him, "Look, I understand you're busy and can't get to this or don't want to do this job. Why don't we just hire this job out and get it taken care of." If he doesn't agree to getting the work done, I ask HIM to commit to a date that it will get done by (no pressure), and I POST IT on the estimate. If that date comes and goes, then I have HIS OWN PROMISE to follow-up on. Again, no guilt, more along the lines of, "You promised to do this. It's not done. Can we PULLLEEZZZ now hire someone to fix it already." It's amazing how well this has worked and cut down on our fights, and my "nagging".

Let me know what happens! Good luck.

I broke down this year and put plastic on the windows in my boys bedrooms. It's amazing what a difference it makes- I am still shocked. I haven't put it anywhere else yet because of the stigma of it, but it does work amazingly well. We also cover the vents in the rooms we don't use often. We close our spare bedroom door too to keep the heat to the main usable parts of the house. I close the heating vents upstairs during the winter and close the downstairs vents during the summer (heat rises). Also, try draining your hot water heater once a year. That will remove some of the possible sediment on the bottom and will lower the water heating bill. Also, don't use your fireplace if you do. It will really cause the thermostat to get messed up and work extra hard depending on where it is in relation to the fireplace. That can really drive up heating costs, contrary to what you may think. Also, get a programmable thermostat if you don't already have one. Have it set lower during the night because the heat from the house will rise into your bedroom area and keep you plenty warm. Finally, I try to keep all the blinds closed and the drapes closed to keep the heat in. Some rooms don't get much natural light that way, but it saves on the heating costs so it's worth it. You'd be amazed what these little tips can do to the bill every month.

If you have an electric clothes dryer, there is a vent you can attach to the vent tubing that allows you to divert the warm, moist air into the room/house instead of completely through the tubing to the outdoors. (You cannot do this if you have a gas dryer because of the fumes and CO risk.)
We also made sure to replace the weatherstripping on the front/main door because we noticed there was a lot of air leaking around it. We also use a rug or "draft dodger" across the bottom of the door.
We put up heavier curtains to help block drafts around the windows. We found a large gap under the windowsill and filled that in as well.
And cold, drafty houses give you an excuse to knit/crochet/quilt blankets and bake a lot of bread and cookies. :)

we put plastic on the windows... the kind you use a blow dryer with. it doesn't look white trashy, you see right threw it, helps alot : )