National Grid raised their energy costs by over double! If you haven’t heard, be sure to check out our blog about it here.  With this increase, it’s time now more than ever to winterize your home.

But what are the most effective ways to winterize your home, especially when energy leaks are robbing you blind?

Winterize Your Home: Are Energy Leaks Robbing You Blind?

energy loss in a home

Depending on your home, air leaks can waste thousands of dollars on energy-robbing gaps and cracks. Isn’t it time you start saving money and enjoying a warmer cozier winter? A typical family spends half of their utility bills on heating and cooling their home.  

According to Energy Star, there are many ways you can start protecting your home and family by conserving energy and increasing comfort in your own home. Generally, the most cost-effective way to reduce airflow and increase the efficiency of a home is to air seal and insulate.

Air sealing creates barriers to airflow by covering cracks and openings in the building cavity. Adding insulation on top of air sealing will slow heat flow and increase occupant comfort, as well as help your home retain the air you have already paid to heat.

Let’s go from the attic to the basement and start zapping those air leaks this week. Then tackle the basement to prevent cold air that enters there from being sucked into upstairs rooms. Finally, seal air leaks in the rest of the house. Here are 5 places to begin:

1. Weatherstrip Your Attic Access Door

The attic space can cause an alarming amount of energy loss in the home. It can be difficult to recognize the source of this problem, so it is important to look at the most common areas of potential leakage.

Attic access doors are a common source of wintertime heat loss. If your door is not properly weatherstripped, it can allow cold air to leak in, especially if the attic is not well insulated.

  • A 1/4-inch gap around pull-down attic stairs lets through the same amount of air as a bedroom’s heating duct. Apply self-adhesive weatherstripping foam around the perimeter of the hatch opening. Please make sure you take these precautions when working in the attic:
  • Wear protective gear such as disposable gloves and a double-elastic respirator.
  • One warning: If you find vermiculite (looks like an old newspaper) insulation, hold off until you’ve had it checked for asbestos and/or contact your local building department.

You can also take a rubber doorstop and use it to seal around the edges of your door

2. Insulate Around Recessed Lights

Recessed lights have vents that open up into the attic which is a direct route for heated/cooled air to escape. They are one of the leading causes of household air leaks. Insulating to reduce energy loss in your attic can be done in areas immediately surrounding your recessed lights, and luckily this is an easy fix.

Here is what you need to do:

  • Remove the bulb and next to the bulb check to see if it is labeled IC-AT (Insulation Contact Air Tight)
  • If it is not, you can assume your leaks.
  • Purchase new airtight baffles for around $20 each.
  • Remove the bulbs, push the new airtight baffles up into the housing, and then replace the bulb.

winterize your home

3. Winterize Your Home by Caulking Skinny Gaps

Caulk makes the best gap-filler for openings less than 1/4-inch wide. Check around your house and caulk around your electrical boxes. Silicone caulk works best next to nonporous materials, such as metal flashing, or where there are temperature extremes.

  • Although, acrylic latex caulk is less messy to work with and cleans up with water. Latex caulk is better for outside corners and around windows, where the silicone will eventually turn white.
  • Unscrew the plate and put a piece of insulation over the outlets
  • Screw the plate back on and add those baby plug protectors.

Also, be sure to Insulate Electrical Boxessince your outlets can actually leak heat from your home take the time to take on this simple project.  It’s going to make the biggest difference on the exterior walls of your home.

Try the product called Socket Sealers which includes all you need. Think about this…$5 Savings/per month = $60/Savings per year. For some people, that’s almost one month free!

4. Plug Gaps in the Basement

In most older homes, air seeps in when the house sits on a foundation.  Those gaps that are above the outside soil level let air in so is important to seal those with caulk for gaps up to ¼” wide around and spray foam for wider ones.

Please make sure you use a high-temperature caulk around vent pipes that get hot and shoot foam around wider holes for pipes that pass through basement walls to the outside.

5. Tighten Up Around Windows and Doors

By far the most significant drafts tend to occur around windows and doors. In fact, windows and doors are responsible for up to 30% of your home’s energy!

If you want to install any weatherstripping do not use the self-stick plastic types as they don’t last very long. Try installing an adhesive-backed EPDM rubber version with a pulley seal tool to try to block any air you see escaping through the frame. Read the instructions for correct temperatures to do this project as you don’t want to apply it when it’s frigid outside.

If you have old inefficient windows, you can caulk and affix new weatherstripping toward tightening them up. But before you start this time-consuming project, you may need to replace them.  You don’t want to waste more time and money if your windows are clearly not efficient.  Do you have any of these issues?

Is Your Home Winter Ready?

Signs that Your Old Windows Need Replacing 

If you are experiencing any of the following issues, caulk and new weatherstripping is only a bandaid approach. Several signs that you need new windows include: 

  • Do they have any seal failures (fogged glass)? This is a sure sign that the gasket has failed and your money is literally going out the window. There is nothing separating you from the outside here. You may as well have the window open!
  • Do you have windows with single-pane glass? Double pane windows provide by far a greater amount of insulation from the outside as they contain two panes of glass with a sealed barrier of air between them thus keeping cold air out and warm air in. Therefore they are much more efficient in terms of energy saving.
  • If you have old inefficient storm aluminum windows, especially 30 years old or more, new replacement windows will save you money in the long run.
  • You feel drafts coming through your windows including the sash and the sill. This is called air infiltration, which is the culprit to drafty windows in the winter.
  • In the summer, it’s called Heat Loss, which is just as bad or worse.
  • How many years are left before your windows are no longer covered under your window warranty? The length of the warranty depends on the manufacture. There are some large variations ranging from 5 years to 25 years and longer.
  • The glass shakes or rattles in the frame. This can be a sign of drafts or air infiltration. It can also be an indication that wood or the paint is worn enough that it is no longer in a snug fit. You can buy weatherstripping to fill this gap, but in the long run, you will save on your energy bill if you replace the windows with new ones.
  • If you have single-hung windows and the operating mechanisms are sticking, they need to be replaced. These can be expensive, so it is better to look at replacing them first.
  • If you have any window defects, like bubbling around the caulk, peeling, and cracked glass, require replacing. Old galvanized steel casings will rust over time causing stains and leaks.

Winterize Your Home with Coastal Windows & Exteriors

If you see any of these issues, there is no point in spending any more wasted money.  Please contact us today to see how we can help start saving you up to 40% on your energy bills.

If you’re ready to do something about your windows, the first step is to understand what makes a window efficient, or not. Please contact us today at 888-812-2783

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