Having Jack Frost nip at your nose while on a sleigh ride is one thing. Having him nip at your nose while inside your home is another.
There`s nothing worse on a cold night than to feel a breeze coming through your living room. In fact most houses, especially older ones, face this nuisance because of cracks that allow cold air in and warm air out.
About 20 to 40 percent of a home`s heat escapes through those cracks, says David Jones, an energy specialist with the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources. That translates to about 20 to 40 percent of your heating bill being spent for nothing.
The culprit is technically called infiltration-air coming through the building from the outside wall structures. In other words, drafts.
There are ways to avoid drafts other than turning up the furnace and getting out extra blankets. And now is the time to handle those tasks, energy efficiency experts say.
Actually, tackling these jobs when the leaves are still on the trees and the days are still long makes sense for a number of reasons, says Jones.
”First of all, most of this work is exterior work and you want decent weather for that,” he says. ”In addition, things like caulk adhere better in warmer temperatures. Finally, every day that you prevent cold air from infiltrating your house is money in the bank.”
Low-cost endeavors
There are a number of simple, low-cost measures that homeowners can take to properly seal in a home for the winter, says Albert Rozo, a research architect for the University of Illinois` energy resources center.
”Most of these projects can be easily handled by the average do-it-yourselfer,” he says. ”And the work will quickly start recouping lost energy dollars and then start paying back on your investment.”
The first job to tackle is caulking in the cracks around all the openings of a home, says Rozo.
”Caulk is usually paintable and is latex-based,” he says. ”It costs a few dollars and usually has a lifespan of about 10 years.”
In its most common form, caulk comes in a tube and is applied with a caulking gun. But there is also preshaped caulk that can be applied without a caulking gun.
Working from the exterior of a home, run a thin bead of caulk around the perimeters of door and window frames where they meet the outside wall, says Rozo. If there is any old caulk around the openings, scrape it away first with a putty knife.
”You can also caulk the inside of door and window openings for an even tighter seal,” he says. ”Again, run a thin bead where the window or door frame meets the wall.”
Jones also recommends caulking around any opening of a home, including entrance holes for antenna or cable wires, and outdoor faucets and electrical boxes.
Repair windows
Also, replace any broken or cracked windows.
”A hole in a window is a huge energy waster,” says Jones. ”And the real R-value-the resistance to heat loss-doesn`t come from the glass but the dead air space between the window and the storm window.”
If you don`t have storms, there are numerous commercial kits available at home improvement stores that will allow you to create a temporary plastic covering over the interior of the window. Most adhere to the window via an adhesive strip or are melted on with a heat source such as a hair dryer.
There are also kits to cover the exterior of windows, including some designed especially for window air conditioners.
”The kits are good investments and a lot cheaper than new storm windows.” he says. ”The aesthetics are just not there.”
Another downside to such kits is that once they`re in place, they render the window inoperable for ventilation until the kit is removed. Hence, if you seal up a window in late September and there`s a week of warm weather in October, you`re going to have to forgo opening the window or tear down the plastic.
And if your windows are in really bad shape, you may want to consider replacement windows, which will offer a long term energy-savings return on your investment.
Another worthwhile project is placing seals on exterior doors, especially if you don`t have storm doors.
”I`d start with a door sweep, which attaches to the inside bottom face of the door, locks in place when the door is closed and creates a nice seal under the door,” says Rozo. ”Then I`d put a rubberized gasket or
weatherstrip around the door jamb.”
Sealing switchplates
Inside the home, you can place gaskets under the switchplate and wall outlet coverings, Rozo and Jones say. Such gaskets can be found at home improvement stores and cost less than $1.
”Cold air can get in from behind these plates, especially if they`re on an exterior wall,” says Jones. ”But if the plate has a couple of coats of paint over it, it`s probably already sealed well.”
To install the gasket, remove the screws holding down the plate, place the gasket in, and replace the plate. ”You can also caulk underneath the plate to seal any gaps between the drywall and the electrical box,” says Rozo.
You can also seal the area where the floor meets the wall, another common area for drafts.
First, remove the circular shoe molding or quarter-round that runs at the junction of the bottom of the baseboard and the floor, and run a small bead of caulk where the baseboard meets the floor, says Rozo. Then replace the shoe molding.
If the baseboard feels loose, secure it with a couple of finishing nails. Then at the top of the baseboard, run a small bead of caulk and after it dries, paint it to match the wall or baseboard.
It`s also worthwhile to seal the attic bypasses, another place where warm air escapes.
”The bypasses are basically shafts that go from the basement to the attic,” says Rozo. ”This creates a chimney effect in which hot air from the first floor or basement gravitates into these shafts through any electrical outlet or cracks between the wall and floor behind the baseboard.”
You can seal the bypasses from the attic by filling them with about six inches of insulation, he says. That may require removing some of the floorboards in the attic to gain access to the bypasses.
Another task to consider: If you have an unused fireplace, you can plug up the flue with a large piece of styrofoam to cap any leaks. ”Fireplaces are a terrible loss of energy,” says Jones. ”Most of that loss is warm air escaping around the damper (the plate that opens and closes the flue). My suggestion would be to take a large piece of packing styrofoam and cut it to snugly fit over the damper.
”It`s going to be a dirty job but it will be worth it,” he says. ”Just remember to remove the styrofoam if you ever decide to reuse the fireplace.” Test your work
Come the first cold, windy day of the season, take a few minutes to see how well you`ve sealed your home.
Simply walk around the house and check for drafts under doors, around windows, from outlet covers and along the baseboards. ”Another good way to check for drafts is to use the smoke from a lit piece of incense,” says Jones.
If you find any cold air leaks, plug them with caulk.
After nightfall, Jones recommends checking door seals from the outside.
”With the door closed, get down on your hands and knees and look for light emitting from underneath the door from the inside,” he says. ”The less light you see, the better the seal.”
Home improvers can undertake these sealing projects without the worry of oversealing and locking fresh air out of the home, Jones and Rozo say.
”There are concerns about `sick home syndrome` if you get a home too tightly sealed,” says Rozo. ”But such cases are rare and you`d really have to be a fanatic and caulk everything to get to that point. Only if you start to get a lot of condensation on your inside walls have you probably overdone it.”
”You`re never going to plug all the holes in your home,” says Jones.
In fact, sealing in your home really has year-round benefits. ”There`s probably a bigger payoff in the summer because (the energy cost for) air conditioning is usually much more expensive than heating,” says Jones.
And to maximize your sealing benefits, have your heating and air conditioning system checked every year or so. ”You want it to run as efficiently as possible for added savings,” Rozo says.
For more information on sealing, contact the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources, which has numerous energy efficiency brochures. Visit the department`s 11th Floor offices at 100 W. Randolph St. in Chicago, during business hours on weekdays; or call 1-312-814-3367.
